


Gotta be the Good Life

by TheExiled1809



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Road Trip, Sharing a Bed, So many tropes, both of them are oblivious, zack is a lil shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-01-30 15:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12656133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheExiled1809/pseuds/TheExiled1809
Summary: Redjay: We should take a road tripZackBlack: HELL YABB: I'd have to ask my mom.ZackBlack: we can go to the beach and LARedjay: We can drive my car and just split the gas moneyZackBlack: im totally in. trini kim?Trin: Sounds like a terrible idea. I'll goZackBlack: IM SO EXCITED NOWKim: ill go 2-Kimberly Hart had planned for a simple road trip. Trini made everything a bit more complicated than planned.





	1. leave tonight or live and die this way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Gotta be the Good Life
> 
> Fandom: Power Rangers
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Saban's Power Rangers, sadly. Lionsgate does. No money is made, but I do like reviews!

Chapter 1: leave tonight or live and die this way

Grief. Anger. Fear.

Kimberly woke up in a cold sweat with the feelings coursing through her veins. She wondered if they were coming from her for a moment before shaking it off. This wasn't as intense as her own feelings, so it had to be coming from the bond. She gripped her bed hard, making deep indents in the wood. She didn't have time to be annoyed by that though because one of the rangers was drowning in pain for some reason and she needed to find them.

Her phone dings multiple times in quick succession. She grabbed it as quick as she could, trying not to grip it too tight. She already knew what her strength could do to a phone and she didn't really feel like telling her parents she ran over it with her car again.

**Morphin Time**

**Redjay** : Who's feelings are these

 **BB** : It's not mine, Jason.

 **Trin** : Nothin here

Kim pursed her lips. That only left one person. She felt the worry grow. Usually Zack was quite good at keeping his feelings under wraps because he didn't like them knowing he wasn't always happy and fearless. Of course the others could pick up subtle worry from him, especially after doctor's appointments or particularly bad days. But this was a whole new thing. It was like Zack couldn't even try to keep his emotions in check.

She sent a quick text off to the group, telling them it wasn't her. She knew they'd get to the trailer park quickly because this was _Zack_ feeling this way, and something had to be very wrong.

Her feet slapped against the pavement steadily and she sped up. The air was warm and slightly humid since it was nearing summer and it was California. She already knew she was going to be sweating a lot, but it didn't matter if she got to Zack quickly. She rounded the bend to get to the trailer park, and her heart stopped. There were flashing lights over where Zack and his mom lived.

An ambulance.

There was a red pickup truck parked in the front, signaling Jason was here. And knowing him, he would've stopped to pick up Billy. Kimberly ran as quickly as she could without being suspicious, probably running a lot faster than normal anyways, but all that mattered was getting to Zack.

He was talking to an official with a clipboard. Jason and Billy stood awkwardly to the side, Jason with his fists clenched tightly and Billy wringing his wrists. After a moment, the official nodded and motioned for the others to take her out.

"Zack!" she cried, throwing her arms around him when he turned. He stood rigid for a long second, and she briefly wondered if that was a wrong move, but he wrapped his arms around her and breathed in and out erratically. Kim knew he was trying not to cry. She held on tighter and prayed his mom would be okay.

Zack's grip loosened when all of them heard footsteps pounding closer. Trini emerged from behind another trailer, sprinting as fast as she could. "Sorry!" she gasped, out of breath. "I'm grounded so I had to be quiet."

She arrived just as they loaded her in, and understanding dawned on her face. "Fuck," she murmured quietly. "I'm so sorry, Zack."

He let go of Kimberly and took a deep, calming breath. "I-I thought she was dead for a couple of moments." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "She couldn't-she wasn't breathing. And I was so scared. I called the ambulance and prayed to every god I've heard of. It seemed like forever before they got here and they did CPR. She's alive, b-but what if she's not tomorrow? I dunno what I'm gonna do if she's gone."

Jason wrapped and arm around Zack's shoulder. "C'mon, Zack. You need to go with them. They might need more information."

Zack shook his head. "I can't. What if...she dies in there? What if a doctor tells me that they're sorry for my loss, but not actually because they never actually knew how amazing my mom was. They never knew how she'd make the best dumplings ever, or how she'd always want me to go to school, even on the bad days! How she tried learning English to talk to you guys, and how she'd find the time to play chess with me and kick my ass every single time! THEY DON'T KNOW!"

Zack screamed into the night, long and raw. Kim could feel the pain radiating from him in waves, and she wished it were putties instead. That way she could help get rid of the threat. Here, she was useless.

"Zack." Trini's voice was quiet and cautious. "You should go. You'll regret it later if you don't say goodbye now."

Zack's jaw clenched, and Kim worried that Trini was too harsh in her words.

"You're right," he agreed, slumping into Jason. Her eyes widened in surprise. That wasn't what she was expecting. "I should go say goodbye. Just in case." He boarded the back of the ambulance and held his mom's hand, talking quietly in Mandarin to her. The four of them watched as the ambulance sped away.

Jason silently motioned for them to follow him to his car. As always, Billy took the passenger seat because he hated how cramped it was in there. The seat behind Billy had all of Jason's crap on it which only left the middle seat and the other side. Trini started climbing in the middle with a scowl. She hated reminders that she was tiny and going in the middle was a pretty big flag for that.

Kimberly snorted softly. She climbed in next to her and put an arm around her. Trini stiffened slightly, and Kim counted in her head.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

She smiled when the smaller girl relaxed into her side. Three seconds was a record, she noted. Trini was slowly getting used to the other rangers touching her. Kimberly remembered the first time Zack put an arm around her shoulders; she had punched him in the solar plexus. It was hilarious.

Kim rested her head on top of Trini's and mindlessly drew on Trini's arm in an attempt to distract her mind. She stared at the lights passing by, wondering how much further until the hospital.

"Sup," Trini murmured quietly. Kimberly sat up and looked at her confusedly.

"I didn't say anything."

"You drew 'hello' on my arm multiple times, princess," she responded with a light smirk.

Kimberly felt her face grow hot. "Oh. I, uh, didn't notice." She moved to take her arm off Trini's shoulder before she did something even more embarrassing, but Trini grabbed her arm. Her fingers were cool and slender, and the car felt unbearably hot all of a sudden.

"Keep doing it please," she whispered, almost begging. "It keeps my mind off things."

And because Kimberly would do anything Trini asked without a second thought, she resumed tracing words on her skin.

_Sup_

"Nothin much, you?"

_Worried_

"Yeah, I can feel it."

_Really_

"Mhm. It's faint, but I can definitely feel it."

_Oh_

She stared at Trini. She was almost perfect at keeping her feelings hidden, so Trini would have to be really in-tune with her feelings to feel the undercurrent of worry running though her right now. Of course, she didn't doubt it. They've only known each other for one and a half years, but having multiple near-death experiences bonds people a lot quicker and easier.

"I can feel you thinking too. Stop it."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "I can't really turn that off."

"Just try, you're making me nervous." Trini's breath ghosted over her neck as she turned to glare pointedly at Kim. She just raised an eyebrow in return and stared back. All of the rangers had eyes Kimberly loved. Jason with his baby blue ones, Billy's were light brown, almost golden, and Zack had dark eyes that always glinted mischievously. But Trini's was definitely her favorite. Swirling hues of brown and gold melding together to create the color she loved so much.

Poetic, she thought to herself. She should become a poet. She chuckled quietly, causing Trini's eyes to narrow.

"You laughing at me, Hart?" she whispered with a playful glare.

"Of course not," she responded and smiled into Trini's hair. She felt the light laugh go through the other girl's body and closed her eyes. If she imagined hard enough, it could just be another trip to the Krispy Kreme with the boys, and Zack's mom was waiting to get a doughnut and talk in broken English to them while beating her son in chess. It could be another normal evening with her friends, ending with falling asleep after watching multiple movies and having a big snuggling party on the floor.

Her fantasy was broken by the blinding whiteness the hospital gave off in the middle of the night. Jason parked carelessly and they all rushed inside. Kimberly was hit by the smell of sterilizer. She wrinkled her nose and shifted closer to Trini, looking for something familiar. They looked around for Zack, but he wasn't there. He must've been taken in right away, meaning this was serious. After a few unsure looks, they sat down and waited for news.

Kim was sick of waiting.

She hated this game of not knowing what comes next and being unable to do anything about it. She grabbed Trini's hand. Trini shot her a look and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

She groaned as she remembered they all had school tomorrow and wished summer break would come quicker. Two more weeks, then they'd be free from high-school. They had all applied for the same college, a small one not too far away from Angel Grove. Billy could've gone anywhere else, but he couldn't move across the country with his Ranger responsibilities. Plus, he wouldn't leave his friends. Trini was also able to get into some big name colleges, but chose to stay close to home and go with her friends, much to her parent's annoyance. Jason had destroyed most chances with that prank of his. Kimberly, well her parents were not happy she was going to some no-name college. She didn't care though, it was her life. She was legally an adult now. Zack...well tonight would determine Zack's future.

She wanted to scream at whatever twisted deity that made Zack's mom sick, Trini's parents homophobic, Billy's dad die, and Jason's parents overbearing. They didn't deserve any of this, they saved the freaking world! Couldn't they catch a break sometime? She just wanted to know what was coming next.

The universe had a cruel sense of humor.

They all knew what was coming the moment Zack stepped into that room trying to keep a strong face. He marched outside without looking at any of them and they hesitated for a second before following him. Zack had his face buried in his hands and was sobbing his heart out. Trini let out a whimper and sat down to wrap her arms around him. He leaned into her, and it looked so weird to see the tall, muscular boy seeming smaller than Trini in that moment. The rest of them tried to touch Zack in some way, even Billy. Slowly, the sobbing turned into uneven gasps, and then heavy breathing.

She felt her heart break as Zack explained that the doctor's couldn't save her. She was too far gone, but she was awake long enough to talk to him one last time. He buried his face in Trini's shoulder in a rare show of emotions that he usually kept locked up and guarded.

"I don't have anywhere to go," he said, running a hand through his hair. "They're gonna sell everything to try to pay back our bills, and I'm legally an adult. They'll expect me to find a job and fend for myself, but I have nowhere."

"Hey," Kimberly said softly. "You have all of us. You can stay with one of us until you can get back on your feet. We're family, remember?"

He shook his head and mumbled something about being a bother, and she wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him until he realized how stupid he sounded. They had his back, why couldn't he understand that? Trini obviously wanted to too.

"Dude, she's right. You're family and family doesn't leave each other behind. You won't be welcomed by my parents or anything, but you can always sneak through my window."

"My mom would happily let you move in for a while," Billy piped up. "She loves all of you guys."

Zack sniffed and gave them a small smirk. "You guys really do love me."

"Don't take it that far," Trini muttered, but she was smiling too.

Jason stood up and offered a hand to Zack. "Let's go back to the trailer and grab everything you wanna keep, alright? Before they take everything away."

He nodded and took the offered hand. His breathing was still uneven, but he managed to stop the tears for now. Kimberly didn't push it. She wouldn't want her friends seeing her breakdown either, no matter how close they were. Sometimes, you needed to be alone and escape everything.

They silently gather in the truck. Trini has to sit on Kimberly's lap since Zack was here now, and Jason never let anyone sit in the cargo area unless they were alone. She wrapped her arms around Trini's waist and rested her chin on her shoulder. She could feel Trini's frustration with a trace of fear leaking though the walls they've built up for the bond, and she wished she could take it all away with a snap of her fingers. But that's not how life works because the world sucks and they might be Power Rangers, but they're also screwed-up teenagers.

They pull up to Zack's trailer, and he got out quickly and burst through the door without saying a word. She furrowed her eyebrows. Should they go in with him or does he want privacy?

"Should we get out?" Billy asked innocently, noticing the way no one was moving.

"I dunno," Trini responded, biting her bottom lip. "Zack might not want company while cleaning out the trailer."

Kimberly started twisting the ring on her left hand, a nervous habit she never let go of. The girl on her lap squirmed, and she tightened her arms instinctively. "Stop moving."

"Kim, that tickles," she complained and laced their fingers together to hold them still. She held them firmly against her abdomen, making sure Kimberly couldn't tickle her anymore.

"Sorry," she mumbled into her shoulder. Trini made a noncommittal noise in response.

Zack came out of his trailer with a black duffle bag slung over his shoulder and carrying something small in his hands. As he got closer, she saw what it was.

A chessboard.

It was one of the cheap plastic ones that had a space to put all the pieces and able to fold up. It probably cost twenty bucks at the most, yet it was probably Zack's most precious possession now. He didn't say anything, just stared at his home with a faraway expression.

"Do you wanna sleep here?" Jason asked gently. "My place is always open too if you want."

Zack smiled sadly at the offer. "I'm just gonna sleep up in the mountains tonight. I have my hammock." She remembered when he bought that thing; all of them were with him when he spent his extra money on the hammock, saying that they'd have to buy their own so they could sleep in the woods together. He loved that hammock.

"You sure, man? I have an air mattress."

"Yeah. Don't be worried about me, boss. I won't do anything stupid."

"He always says that, then he does the stupidest thing imaginable," Trini quipped. All of them knew it was thinly veiled concern for the boy though. She wanted to know that he'd be okay.

"Well, that's what I always do, crazy girl. How else am I supposed to live?"

"Trini's right. Zack is usually the one making the worst decisions on the team," Billy said. "Like breaking the coins out of the ice, jumping over the chasm, jumping in the chasm, driving the Zord-"

"Hey!" Zack said indignantly. "First of all, Trini jumped over that stupid chasm first. And you fell into the chasm first too!"

"Yes, but Trini obviously had practice with the powers, and I unintentionally fell in the hole. But if you don't count those, I can recall at least fourteen more times you've made stupid decisions in our junior year."

"He's not to senior year yet," Kimberly said with a grin.

"No, Kimberly. I'm not finished with junior year yet, why would I go to senior year?" Billy was perplexed, and he frowned at her.

"No, Billy. It's-it was a joke."

"Ah. Should I laugh?"

"Nope," Trini said, popping the 'p'. "It wasn't funny." Kimberly glared and poked her in the side. The other girl yelped uncharacteristically and scrambled into the seat Zack left open while shooting her a sour look.

"Break it up lovebirds," Zack joked in some semblance of normal, wriggling his eyebrows. Kimberly leaned out the open window and hit his head.

"Ow," he whined, rubbing the sore spot and giving her a pout.

"I didn't even use my ranger strength, suck it up."

"You don't have to use your superpowers for it to hurt," he muttered, half-heartedly trying to hit her back. She just leaned out of his reach and stuck her tongue out at him. "Damn it, Hart!"

He stuck his arm through the window and flailed it around. She just crawled over Trini, ignoring the groans coming from underneath her. She ends up with her knees digging into Trini's thighs painfully and almost elbowing her face.

"Kim," she growled, shoving her off. She ended up sprawled across the entire back seat, and Zack managed to smack her back painfully. She groaned and buried her face into Trini's stomach.

"That hurt," she said, her words muffled by Trini. She heard a laugh above her, and Zack laughed too, this one quieter and sadder.

"I'll see you guys later. I don't-I don't think I'm going to school tomorrow." Kim forced herself to sit up so she could look at him.

"You're going to miss again?" Billy asked with a frown. "Your attendance-"

"Will be fine with a couple of missed days." He smiled softly because combined force of his mom and friends got him going to school enough to get a decent grade in most classes. They all knew Zack was smart, not Billy smart, but no one was Billy smart.

Billy opened his mouth, but Jason smoothly interrupted him. "We understand. Do you want us to stay with you tonight?"

Zack pursed his lips, and Kim could see his eyes glistening. "Nah, I'll be fine. I just need some alone-time, ya know?"

Kimberly nodded because she had been there too. When the bullying had gotten too bad, or her parents disappointment was tangible in the air, she hadn't wanted any of the Rangers see her break down. She understood.

"Okay. But we're here for you. Just call if you need us, and we'll be there," Kim assured him.

"Of course. I'll text you guys tomorrow morning." That seemed to placate Jason, who wanted to be there for their friend. "I'll be fine, boss man."

"Fine, but don't do anything stupid," he warned, starting up the engine and giving him a stern look. Kim shook her head with an amused smile. Always the dad friend.

Zack saluted them and took off, climbing up the trail and probably burning off steam. They watched him disappear over the horizon before driving off. They sat in tense silence for a few minutes.

"Think he'll be okay?" Trini's voice is quiet and concerned. Kim turned and saw her worrying her bottom lip, something she did when she was stressed. She rested her head on Kimberly's shoulder.

"It's Zack. He's strong," she responded, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Plus he's got us."

"We'll just have to pay extra attention to the bond for the next couple of days," Jason said. He was staring straight ahead, and his knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel hard. "So we can be there for him."

"I can pick up a faint feeling of sadness with an undercurrent of anger," Billy observed. "But he's trying to suppress it."

Kim frowned. The closer you were with someone, the more attuned you were with their emotions. Out of the entire team, Zack was probably the one she was the least closest to, but she couldn't even feel what the rest of them were feeling from Zack. She made a mental note to try and get closer with the boy.

They make it to Trini's house, who lives the closest to Zack. It's a suburban house with two cars parked neatly in the driveway and perfectly trimmed, green grass. Kimberly had no doubt that the family inside tried to be as perfect as their perfect house in their perfect little neighborhood. It was the exact opposite of Trini, and Kimberly wondered how she lives here.

"Where's the white picket fence?" she muttered, a thought she has every time she sees the house. Trini shot her a raised brow and smirked. Kim saved herself from responding by getting out of the car and holding the door open.

"Oh fuck," Trini cursed when she caught sight of the house. "My parents are still up."

To emphasize her point, the door opened, revealing a short, but intimidating woman. She glared at Kim and stared expectantly at her daughter. Trini cursed under her breath in Spanish and walked slowly to her doom. Kimberly watched the exchange between both of them, a rapid-fire conversation of Spanish and quick hand-movements. She caught June gesturing to the truck, then Kimberly while raising her voice. Trini just crossed her arms and looked unimpressed. June huffed and gestured for her to go inside. Trini obeyed after a long moment, and her mom slammed the door on them.

"Oo-kay," Kim said, climbing back inside before a crazy mother came outside cursing them out in Spanish and waving a frypan over her head. "That went well."

"Are you sure? Her mom looked pretty mad," Billy said, not realizing the sarcasm.

"She was pissed," Jason agreed, turning to stare at her with his eyebrows drawn together. "Especially at you."

Kim shrugged. "I dunno man." She stared at the house steadily getting smaller and wondered how Trini lived in a place like that. Where she was expected to be a perfect Christian child who liked perfect Christian boys that called her mom 'ma'am' and went to church every Sunday with the family. She laughed at the alternate universe created inside her head.

She bid the boys goodbye and climbed expertly up the large oak tree she had been using to sneak out since she was twelve. Her window was slightly cracked, and she forced it all the way open slowly, wincing at every sound it made. Why the hell were windows so loud anyway? It was so inconvenient for everyone.

Kimberly eyed the indents of her fingers on her wooden frame in distaste. How was she supposed to hide that? She shrugged and threw a blanket over it. No one went into her room anymore anyways.

Kim could feel Trini's annoyance and frustration across town. It made her skin buzz with energy and cost her a toothbrush and half of her toothpaste. She stared at the paste on her mirror with a frown and grabbed her phone.

 **Me** : u good?

 **Trin** : Peachy

 **Me** : :/

 **Trin** : Just my mom being her normal self. What's up?

 **Me** : i cant sleep cuz of u

 **Trin** : Wow, a bit obsessed aren't you

 **Me** : shut up and go to sleep

 **Trin** : Night Kim

 **Me** : buenos noches

 **Trin** : BuenAs noches

 **Me** : i hate u

_/Line Break\_

"Are you drinking again?"

Jason's voice was colored with disbelief and anger as they crept closer to where Zack was camping out. He was laying on a flat rock with a smile and a half-empty bottle in hand.

They had all felt a floaty happiness in the bond and immediately knew it was Zack because the sadness he usually emitted was gone. It had been four days since his mom had passed away, and they haven't seen him at school or training at all. He just sat on this rock and drank, somehow getting his hands on alcohol.

"Yeah," Zack replied. "Helps me forget."

"Zack, drinking isn't very good for coping," Billy ventured quietly. "There are other ways."

"Yeah, not get drunk out of your mind," Trini snapped suddenly, surging forward and grabbing the bottle. Kimberly winced when the bottle shattered where she had thrown it. He jumped up angrily.

"What the hell?"

Trini poked him in his chest. "Yeah, what the hell, Zack! I won't let you ruin your life by failing high-school and becoming an alcoholic. You're mom wouldn't want this for you! She died, she wouldn't have wanted you to throw your life away too!"

He glared at her, his fists clenching and unclenching around air. Kim prepared to jump in if he tried anything, but she doubted he would. Even when Zack was drunk and even more reckless than usual, he loved his friends and family and wouldn't imagine trying to hurt them.

His shoulders slumped, and his bottom lip trembled slightly. Trini took that as an invitation to pull him into a hug and he loosely wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"You're too small to be my shoulder to cry on," Zack mumbled, chuckling slightly. She scowled and flicked his ear.

"Jerk."

"You love it."

"Yeah, so don't be even more of an idiot than usual and let yourself waste away." She was looking at the ground, and Kimberly smiled softly. Even when admitting she loved Zack, she insulted him. It was just such a Trini thing to do. "You can't miss anymore days."

He looked away. "I know."

"My mom said you could sleep at my house whenever," Billy offered. "Jason can too if he'll make you feel better."

"And I'll drive you both to school tomorrow," Jason jumped in, looking happy that he could do something other than stand there awkwardly.

They both looked so hopeful that even Zack couldn't refuse. He reluctantly agreed, and Kim could feel everyone's mood lighten considerably, her own included. It was a long way until Zack could feel normal again, but this was a better start than drowning his sorrows in alcohol. They were all screwed up, but they had each other. It may sound cliche, and Kimberly hated cliches with a passion, but it was true. She had their backs and they had hers. They could get through everything together.

_/Line Break\_

Kimberly groaned when she heard tapping. She unstuck her eyelids painfully and rubbed the junk from them. What the hell? She assumed it was some branches from the tree, so she rolled over and tried to get more sleep before her alarm went off.

The tapping grew more insistent, and she threw off her covers while glaring at her window. The blinds were closed, so she couldn't see what it was. Kim slowly crept forward, eyeing the bright window carefully and peeked outside. She had no idea what to expect, but Trini was not one of them.

She was sitting on her roof with a bored expression. She saw Kim through the window and looked at her expectantly. 'Open it' she mouthed.

Kimberly unlatched the locks and slid it open. She raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't wait until school to see me?" she teased, her voice rough from sleep.

Trini rolled her eyes and shoved her out of the way lightly. "My parents were being annoying and I didn't feel like the bus today."

"I feel used," Kim said. She yawned and ran a hand through her hair, suddenly feeling self-conscious in only an oversized cheer shirt and messy bed-head. Trini was already dressed in ripped jeans, a yellow tee, and her bomber jacket. Kimberly grinned when she saw the grey beanie and plucked it off her head.

"Fuck off," Trini told her, reaching for the beanie and scrunching her nose in that adorable way Kim loved. She held it further out of her reach in retaliation.

"Ah, what's the magic word?"

Trini glared at her. "Now." When she didn't give it back, the shorter girl sighed heavily. Then proceeded to tackle Kim onto the bed. She shrieked and held the beanie further away. She laughed when Trini tried to pin her with one hand because her hand was too tiny.

"Give. Me. It." Trini was trying to reach out with one hand while keeping Kimberly pinned to the bed with her body at the same time. Her fingers brushed the material.

"Kimberly? Are you alright, I hear some noise!" There were footsteps that grew louder and closer. Kim froze at the sound of her father's voice, and Trini took the moment to snatch her beanie. Kim payed no mind to her as she strained to listen for her dad.

"I'm good, dad," she called, holding her breath. There was a moment of tense silence.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The handle to her bedroom door started turning, and Kim rolled her and Trini off the side of her bed. She ended up straddling the other girl and placing a hand to cover her mouth.

"Kimberly?" Her head popped out from behind the bed, and she smiled at him. She could feel Trini shifting uncomfortably underneath her, and she shot her a warning glare. Trini glared back, then her father was speaking again, drawing her attention.

"Why, uh, are you on the floor?"

Kim shrugged like it was no big deal. "Rolled out of bed when I woke up. I'm fine."

"Did you hit your head?" He took a step in her room.

"No, no, no! I'm fine, dad, really."

He gave her a dubious look. "If you say so. Breakfast is on the table, I'm going to work."

She nodded, and he gave her one last strange look before shutting her door. Kimberly breathed a sigh in relief and grinned down at Trini. "God that was close." Her blood rushed from adrenaline.

"Get off me, Hart," Trini grumbled, her face seeming oddly red in the lighting. Kim was surprised as she felt slight anger coming from her. She jumped off quickly and extended her hand.

Trini took it and avoided eye-contact with her. She refitted her beanie on her head and smoothed out her rumpled shirt. They stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments, and Kim was about to break it before Trini mumbled, "I, uh, gotta go."

Kimberly frowned and reached out to grab Trini's wrist. The girl froze and finally looked at her. "Trin, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so careless about getting caught. I know you still haven't told your parents."

"That's not-" Trini shut her eyes and rubbed her temples. "I'm fine. I just remembered I have to go home for some stuff."

Kimberly raised an eyebrow at the vague response, but didn't get a chance to say something back because Trini was jumping out her window and sprinting away from her a little too fast for a normal human. Did that count as using their powers for personal gain?

She tried not to be hurt by Trini's abrupt exit and instead got ready for school. She didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, but it was worth it because it was Zach and family always came first. But she needed lots of caffeine.

She got downstairs and was met with a piece of slightly burnt, cold piece of toast and no coffee because her parents drank it all.

Fantastic.

At this point, the only good thing in her day so far would be this morning before class. She'd say Trini visiting was a high point, but with the awkward and rushed goodbye, it didn't seem so great.

It was an unspoken rule that they all meet up at Billy's locker before first period. His was in the middle of everyone else's locker and they felt the need to protect him, even though he always reminded him that he was a Power Ranger and accidentally knocked one of his bullies out.

"Where's Trini," she asked, walking up to the two boys. She knew Zack had slept in and would be late, but she thought Trini would be here. She was wide awake and dressed before Kim had rolled out of bed this morning after all.

"We thought she was with you," Jason said, turning with a furrowed brow.

"Trini always walks with you here. She only doesn't when she's late or missing, but I thought I saw her at her locker earlier so I don't understand..." Billy trailed off and looked around the hallway.

"Maybe she's just feeling more affected by Zack than we are," Jason suggested. "She is closer to him."

Kimberly pursed her lips and swallowed past the lump in her throat. Was Trini avoiding her? She shouldn't jump to conclusions, the last time that happened, there were leaked nudes of her ex-best friend. She breathed in slowly and tried reasoning with herself. Maybe Trini had an argument with her parents. Or she had walked with Zack to school. That seemed more reasonable than Trini avoiding her, right?

Luckily, or unluckily, she had calculus first hour, which took her mind off Trini. It also made her want to claw her eyes out. Her only saving grace was Billy, who patiently helped her through the problems and encouraged her to ignore the whispers and taunts being thrown her way.

Thank god he was there or she would've broken a chair over a kid's head already. One conversation had her straightening and gripping her pen so hard it was about to snap.

_"God, Kimberly Hart has fallen from grace hard."_

_"So has Jason Scott. They went from high-school royalty to hanging out with the weirdos."_

_"Yup. A freak, trailer trash, and a nobody. Can you believe it?"_

"Kimberly." Billy's soft voice broke through her murderous thoughts. She looked at him, and he motioned to her hand. The pen was splintered in two, and ink had spilled all over her hand and the table.

"Shit," she muttered, getting up for a paper towel. That was her last pen she had on her and it was only the first class. She could already tell it was going to be a long day.

When she sat back down, Billy looked at her for a long moment before gifting her one of his pencils and rearranging the rest. She was surprised. Billy had a specific order his pencils went in and taking one would disrupt the entire thing, yet he willingly gave her one without any prompting? Billy Cranston was an angel that none of them deserve.

They sat in comfortable silence with Billy muttering a few choppy sentences under his breath and Kimberly trying not to chew on the back of her pencil because she needed to give it back unharmed. And wow, she's grown to care about these people so much that she's consciously aware of how she's treating a pencil.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

The bell rang, startling both teens out of their concentration. Kim packed up her stuff and held out the pencil for Billy to take. Once again, he surprised her by hesitating and shaking his head.

"You can use it for your next class if you want," he offered. "I can just get it back at lunch."

Kimberly declined because damn it, she didn't want to spend three more classes worrying about a pencil. She could just grab one at her locker now.

She got to her locker and grabbed her last pen. Hopefully she won't break it this time, but she still had one week of school to go.

She closed her locker and felt an odd tingling on her right. She looked over instinctively and saw a flash of yellow disappear in the crowd of kids, walking away from her.

Trini.

Kimberly pushed down the confusion at seeing her walk the one way when her next class was the exact opposite. She just held her books tighter and walked to English. It was her least-favorite class of the day, mainly because Ty was in it.

"Hey, Kimmy," Ty drawled when she walked in. "Ruin anyone's life today?"

God, she wanted to see how many teeth she could knock out with her Ranger strength now, but restrained the urge because she knew she deserved the whispers and glares and the things written on her lockers, even a year and a half after the incident. She was a coward.

She never apologized to Amanda Clarke.

She wanted to but each time she was going to do it, her feet would freeze and she felt like she couldn't speak. After a while, it just seemed to late to address it.

Amanda deserves an apology from her though. She had ruined the girl's life, the least she could do is say sorry.

But Kimberly doesn't do anything good and she deserves everthing bad. So she doesn't bother Ty with a comeback and sat down in her chair instead. Ty mocked her with a few more insults, getting his stupid football buddies to snicker before the teacher came in. She slumped lower in her seat, trying to stop the self-hatred and sadness from going through the bond. She didn't feel like being interrogated today by Jason.

English was long and she was only sane because lunch was next and she'd be with her friends. She was stronger than Ty. She was a Power Ranger and shouldn't let some kid's words get to her. She's saved this town many times, so why does she feel so weak.

She gathered all of her stuff and left as quickly as she can. The faces blur and she tries to keep it together. Why was this affecting her so much? She was the Queen Bee for all of middle-school and half of high-school; she should know how to have tough skin.

"Kim!" Jason is calling her with Billy in tow. She took a deep breath and plastered on a fake smile.

"Hey, what's up."

He didn't buy it. "You alright?"

"Fine," she responded, putting her books away and slamming her locker with more force than necessary. Billy flinched at the sound and she felt bad immediately. "Sorry. Ty's just being an ass."

Jason's eyes flashed and he stood up straighter. "What's he doing?"

"Nothing bad. Just being himself." She grabbed his arm when he started going to the cluster of football jocks. "Jay, don't. It's not worth it."

His nostrils flared and she could see his knuckles gripping his messenger bag. Jason took a deep, calming breath.

"You've already gotten in trouble from fighting with those guys bothering Zack," Billy reminded him. "If it happens again, you'll be expelled."

"And we only have to put up with this for another week. We've survived a lot more than a couple of bullies," Kim muttered, starting towards the lunch room. Somehow, they all ended up with the same lunch period, so that means Trini should be there. Then Kimberly could figure out what was going on.

She tried not to let the disappointment show on her face when she only saw Zack playing a game on his phone. No yellow-clad girl and no texts on her phone.

Kimberly ran a hand through her hair and resisted the urge to pull at it. Where was she? Lunch was the highlight of their day since they all got to see each other, and no one missed lunch unless they had to. Trini would warn them if she had a lunch detention or class, but she hasn't even spoken to Kim today.

She chewed her lip. Trini probably was running late, she was just overreacting. It's only been two minutes since the bell rang.

Two minutes turned into five, which turned into ten, and Kimberly knew Trini wasn't coming. Jason kept sending her confused and worried looks, but she avoiding his gaze. She pushed her food around on her tray, not feeling hungry at all despite the fact that she hasn't eaten anything today.

She got up and threw it away after a few minutes. It's not like she was gonna eat it anyways. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see the foot in her path before she tripped over it. Kim stumbled forward, but Jason steadied her from where he was sitting. She could hear some sniggering coming from behind her and her ears burned hotly.

Jason stood up and stormed over towards the table that tripped her. She exchanged worried looks with Billy and Zack before they followed him quickly.

"What's your problem?" Jason asked Ty, crossing his arms. Ty sneered before standing up to match his height. He stepped into Jason's personal space. Zack surged forward, but Billy held a tight grip on his arm. Zack couldn't afford getting into a fight after the first one and so many missed classes.

"She's a big problem for my girlfriend," he said, and Kimberly flinched at the mention of Amanda.

"She's not the one who's tripping people and writing shit all over their locker!"

"Shut it, Scott. You don't know the full story. If you did, you wouldn't be hanging out with her." He shoved Jason, or tried to. It was more like shoving a brick wall. Jason raised an eyebrow before he shoved him back, making him stumble into the table behind him. The cafeteria went silent, and there were some 'oohs' from the crowd that had gathered around him. Ty flushed and pushed himself up. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and Kimberly knew he wanted to take a swing but was unsure since he felt how strong Jason was. Ty settled with scowling at their little group of misfits.

"You're all freaks," he muttered angrily. "And freaks stay together so that explains why you're with her." He jerked his head towards Kim. She could practically see steam coming out of Jason's ears, and if this happened before they became Rangers, he would've already started a fistfight. But this was after they learned they were superheroes and carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. They all had changed.

So Jason settled with embarrassing Ty by making him flinch. He took a hard step towards the football player, making Ty step back quickly. Jason looked at him smugly, daring Ty to do something. When nothing happened, he turned back towards the other rangers and motioned for them to walk back to the table.

The lunchroom had become quiet with the display between the two boys, but they didn't pay any mind to that. After a few charged moments, Kim saw Ty storm off with Amanda, and everyone started talking again.

"Do you need us to walk you to your class?" Jason offered, always the gentleman. How sweet, he wanted to make sure she was safe from Ty.

"Do I need to remind you who has been kicking your ass the last couple days? I can definitely take down Ty and his friends."

Zack laughed in delight at her response and punched Jason  
shoulder. "Dude, it's Kimberly Hart. She can handle herself."

"Just making sure." Jason held his hands up in surrender.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she replied, turning and leaving the three boys. "I'll see you later though."

She walked down the halls, ignoring the stares thrown her way. She was used to it by now. She got to her classroom and automatically searched for the yellow-clad figure in the back of the room.

Her heart sunk when she realized Trini's seat was empty. Is she skipping school? Or just skipping the parts of school that had Kimberly in it.

She sat down, feeling numb. She never realized how Trini played a huge part in her life before she went a day without her. She kept finding herself looking back at the empty seat, searching for brown eyes and a signature smirk, or her ears waiting for the familiar whooshing of a note being thrown her way. Instead she was met with an empty chair and no notes.

The rest of the day passed in a slow blur. No Trini anywhere, or at least not near her. Billy had said she was in PE class and she hadn't responded. She just made a dumb excuse and left to go to the bathroom. Kimberly felt the familiar sting in her eyes, and she walked quicker. She breathed in a sigh of relief when she saw it was empty and gripped the porcelain sink to keep her grounded while breathing in and out slowly.

She shouldn't be crying. It's not like it was surprising Trini wasn't talking to her. All good things came to an end, and it seemed like this one did today.

She just wished she knew why. She had been trying to hard to be different, better to her new friends. She thought she was doing well, but obviously she wasn't. Trini didn't want anything to do with her, and that's _fine_.

It was fine.

She wiped the stray tear from her cheek and threw some water on her face to try and snap her out of it. It seemed to work for the most part, her face wasn't as flushed and didn't feel so hot.

But the heaviness in her chest didn't go away.

The rest of the day passed in a mindless blur, and she ended up standing outside her car with Jason staring at her worriedly. She wished he'd just leave her alone so she could go to the mountains.

"Hey, I cancelled training today. I thought we could use a break since finals ended."

"Fine by me," she mumbled. It must be fine with Trini too, since she didn't have to make up an excuse not to go to training so she didn't see Kimberly. She swallowed past the lump in her throat.

"Are you o-"

"I'm fine, Jason," she cut him off. "Just need to get some energy out."

He looked unconvinced but didn't push. He knew when enough was enough, which would be good for keeping him from bodily harm.

"Now go, I know you and Billy usually go to Krispy Kreme on Friday before having a picnic." She shoved him towards his car. He looked at Kim uncertainly. She knew he could feel something was wrong, but she didn't want to talk about it.

"You can come if you want," he offered after it was obvious she wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Jason Scott, leave before I throw you over there," she threatened, and he rolled his eyes before walking to where Billy was waiting in the car. She let out a relieved sigh and climbed into her own car. It was a piece of junk; the air conditioner or the heat didn't work, and she was pretty sure it'd break down any minute now, but it did its job of getting her around.

When she got to her house, she grabbed her water bottle and ran past the house. Her parents weren't home anyway, so it's not like she had to make an excuse of why she was going out.

Kimberly ran as fast as she could and jumped into the chasm without pausing, already used to jumping off a cliff hundreds of feet below.

"Kimberly!" Alpha 5 exclaimed, rushing towards her. "Jason told me he cancelled training today, what are you doing here?"

She shrugged and started walking to the Pit. "Wanted to burn off some extra energy."

"Did Trini come with you?" he asked innocently. He knew they were close, probably coming to the conclusion a long time ago.

"I'm alone," she said harshly, annoyed at the reminder of the girl. Alpha 5 didn't seem to notice, instead fiddling with the controls for the training putties.

"Any specifics?" he asked.

"Put them on level 3. Don't stop until I tell you to." She was alone, not even Zordon was on the wall, so she took off her shirt and threw it to the side before getting in a defensive stance.

"Kimberly, I'd advise you to morph."

"I'll be fine." She bounced on the balls of her feet. "We did it for eleven days before Rita."

"Those were only level 1 putties. These are significantly har-"

"I'll be fine," she repeated harder. She needed to feel the pain to keep her mind off other things. Alpha 5 sighed but didn't argue anymore. A wave of putties rose from the ground and charged at her. Her heart rate quickened in anticipation, and she ran to meet one.

Punching them hurt. Her knuckles would be bruised and bleeding by the end of this, but she didn't care. She just gritted her teeth against the pain and kept turning them into dust. Wave after wave rose up and on the fourth one, one landed a hit. Its fist hit her side and pain erupted on the spot. She ignored Alpha 5's cries and destroyed it. "Keep going!"

Her muscles burned and every part of her body hurt. None of the Rangers went this far without either taking a break or doing partners. Jason usually made them stop before they got seriously hurt, but Jason wasn't here.

Kimberly had no one but herself to blame. She had just put her fist through the chest of a putty and wasn't quick enough to block or dodge the incoming punch. She ended up on the ground with stars exploding in her vision. Her back hit the rough rocks hard, probably cutting her in some places. A wave of nausea went through her and she almost puked on the floor. Alpha 5's voice was muted and far away. She could feel slimy wetness sliding down her face and staining the rock red.

"Holy shit," she gasped, staying on the floor and closing her eyes. Her head hurt like a bitch, and she didn't know how long she laid there.

"Kim!"

She groaned at the loud voice, which seemed like someone had screamed her name right next to her ear. There were footsteps and someone was kneeling next to her.

"Check the perimeter!" She heard someone say. It sounded like Zack. Shouldn't he be working? "Someone could've broken in!"

"It doesn't look like someone broke in," someone else responded. Billy was here too?

"She was training and a putty hit her in the head."

"Was she in her suit?" The voice next to her was Jason's, she thought dazedly. Why were they all here? Training was cancelled, it's not like they had a reason to be here.

"No, she didn't morph."

She found the strength to sit up, feeling another wave of nausea as soon as she moved. Her hands went to cradle her head, and she wanted to crawl up in a hole and die. She blinked some spots away from her vision.

"Why weren't you wearing your armor? Why were you training alone? Why were you doing both at the same time?" Jason demanded, and she wanted to hit him to make him shut up because his voice was too loud right now.

"Really?" Another voice filtered in, and Kimberly's eyes flickered up in surprise. Trini was standing a few feet away by Billy and Zack. "She just got knocked out by a putty and you're about to lecture her on safety?"

She took a step closer towards Kim, whose heart skipped a beat for some reason. It was probably the fact that that Trini hadn't even looked at her since this morning and went out of her way to avoid her, now she's acting like nothing happened. But Kimberly just bit her lip and said nothing.

"Get me a towel and some water," she told Billy, her voice soft. Kimberly was grateful that one person knew that it felt like someone was drilling her head open.

She blinked, and Trini somehow was kneeling by her with a wet towel in hand. She frowned, did being a Power Ranger give them super speed or something now? Why didn't she know this before? She could've avoided being hit by that stupid putty.

Trini hands were gentle as she wiped the blood off of Kim's face. She held her breath, scared that she'll say something that'll make Trini disappear again. Kimberly's eyes traced the sharp curve of her jawbone, trying to focus on something other than the way Trini's hair smelled like lemons or how her hands let the towel glide over her face softly like she was scared of hurting her. She wore a facial expression she Kim didn't know what to think of.

Then today came rushing back to her and punching the putties didn't do much to quell her anger at her Trini for avoiding her. She stood up shakily, ignoring the way her body protested and stumbled back from the shorter girl. Hurt flashed on her face, then it was her normal, guarded expression. It made Kim's chest ache to put that face on her.

"I'll heal," she mumbled, staring at the spots of blood on the rock floor. She could feel four gazes dying to ask questions, so she deflected it with a question of her own. "Why are you guys here?"

"You kidding me?" Zack exclaimed. "I was just about to leave for work when I felt a faint pain in my head and-"

"And texted the group chat," Jason finished, sending him a look Kim couldn't decipher. She didn't feel like trying. "Where the hell is your phone?"

Her mind flashed to her car and where she had thrown her phone carelessly on the passenger's seat so she could get away from everyone faster. "At home."

"Maybe you should take it with you when you don't tell anyone you're going to fight putties alone without armor. Ya know, so we don't think you got kidnapped or anything." Trini shrugged easily and crossed her arms.

"Well I didn't think anyone would want to hear from me today so I decided I didn't need it," she shot back scathingly. The other girl reeled back in surprise and narrowed her eyes. Kimberly steeled herself for the incoming words because Trini's defense mechanism was harsh words and sarcasm.

"Some people have actual shit going on in their lives and can't always have time for you." And even though she tried to prepare herself, it still hurt.

"Whatever. Thanks for checking on me." She picked up her shirt and slid it on, biting her lip to stop the hiss at the sharp pain from the cuts on her back. They'd be gone in less than an hour, but they still stung like hell.

"You should sit down, Kimberly. You might collapse and add to your current injuries." She couldn't find it in herself to yell at Billy, so she complied and sat on a large boulder. She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms loosely around them.

Kimberly observed the cuts and bruises on her arms with a frown. She'd have to hide from her parents. It probably wouldn't be that difficult since either one was barely home, let alone both of them at the same time. Maybe she'll sleep in the ship again. It'd be better than that huge, empty house. Here, she felt safer with Alpha 5 whirring in the background and Zordon a wall away. Literally.

"You guys can go, you know. I'm gonna be staying on the ship for a while." She avoided eye contact and picked at some dirt on her skin.

"What do you mean?"

Kimberly shrugged and went for nonchalant. "Don't feel like going to an empty house. Might as well swim or something." Hopefully they didn't see the lie on her face. Just buy it, she chanted in her head. No more questions...

"You wanna come to my place?" Jason asked. It was a reasonable question, she always went to him to talk when she needed someone to be her rock. He was strong and steady, a safe spot for her. He could be an amazing boyfriend but she'd never felt that way about him. Maybe at first, when they were starting out being Rangers, but he was her best friend and she didn't want to ruin that.

Kimberly heard a scoff and turned to see Trini walking away. She mumbled something about having to go, and Zack shot her a look before running after her.

"Did I miss something?" Billy asked. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," she murmured, more to herself then anyone. She hopped off her boulder, ignoring the way her head throbbed and the world tilted. "Fuck."

"I think you have a concussion, Kim," he said worriedly, looking at Alpha for confirmation. The robot agreed and tried to get her to sit back down. She shooed him off and went to go after her two friends, but Jason grabbed her arm.

"I don't think you should go after her," he whispered lowly. She glared at him and tried shrugging him off. "Really, Kim, you should let Zack handle this. He's her best friend."

She stopped walking and looked at the ground. "Yeah, he's her best friend. Because best friends don't avoid each other for no reason." He winced as he realized that he worded that badly.

"That's not what I mean-"

"I get it." She tried to smile at him, hoping it'll ease his concern. "Jay, I'll be fine. I'm a big girl and can handle my problems on my own now."

His eyes narrowed, and he was about to say something before Billy interrupted, "I have to go because my mom wants me to help with dinner. We're making chili, my mom makes it weird but it tastes delicious. We haven't made it for a while since my dad loved to help make and eat it, but you know, since he's dead-"

"Billy!" Jason said in that tone of voice that effectively quiets the rambling, and thank god because only he seemed to be able to do that. If she had done it, she was pretty sure he wouldn't have heard her and kept on going about his chili. And Kim loves chili as much as any other person, but Billy wasn't any other person.

"Sorry. Do you wanna come over? My mom loves you guys."

Jason looked conflicted, his eyes darting between her and him. And chili being on the same level of importance as her wasn't a surprise, teenage boys thought with their stomachs. She'd normally comment on that, but she wasn't feeling too normal now.

"Go," she encouraged, pushing Jason towards Billy. "I'm kinda tired, so I think I'll call it a day." He looked like he wanted to argue, but Billy grabbed his hand and started talking his ear off about the process of making chili. Bless his heart for being so oblivious and getting their Ranger Dad away from her. She waved at them before they jumped and let out a breath when they were finally gone.

She wanted to go check out one of the bedrooms on the ship, but the dizziness was back in full force. She barely kept herself from collapsing by steadying herself on the rail. She heard a loud crunching that echoed around the ship, and realized she had dented the metal rail. What was wrong with her? She thought she got out of her phase of breaking things accidentally.

"Alpha, how long do I have to wait until my concussion is gone?" she called out, trying not to wince at the spike of pain that went through her.

"It is a mild concussion, so I would say around tomorrow morning. It should be gone by then."

Kimberly rubbed her temples because tomorrow morning was forever away. She hoped the symptoms would go away quicker, or she'd punch a wall. And considering that the only walls were the metal ship ones or the rock ones, that wouldn't go well for anyone.

She briefly considered trying to go back to her house to get her phone, but with her head spinning like this, it probably wasn't the greatest idea. Luckily she had spent the night at the ship many times before so she had clothes and a toothbrush up here.

She took a quick shower, relishing the hot, fresh water the ship provided. Alpha and Zordon had made it a lot more inhabitable ever since they became Rangers, including showers, bathrooms, bedrooms, and even a microwave. Granted, they only had hotdogs, but it was better than nothing. She was wringing out the water in her hair and making her way to the kitchen when a sound made her freeze. Alpha had gone to fix a leak on the other side of the ship, leaving her alone. Plus he didn't have feet so there was no explanation for the light footsteps on the metal floor. She slowly raised her fists and crept towards the sound. There was some rustling by where they kept the food, and she took another step closer.

The metal groaned beneath her foot, and making her freeze. The intruder stopped making noise also, and she cursed herself in every language she knew. She knew she should've brought her phone, now there was no way to contact the others.

Someone jumped out of the doorway suddenly, causing Kim to let out a surprised shriek and trip over her feet in her haste to create some distance between her and the attacker. Her head slammed on the ground again for the second time that day, and she groaned at the sharp ache. She was very graceful today.

"Kim?!" There were footsteps that got closer to her, and she whimpered at the voice. It was loud and familiar, making her force her eyes open to squint at Trini. She was kneeling over her with a backpack slung over her shoulder and red, puffy eyes.

"Trini," she muttered, staring at the other girl confusedly. "What're you doing here. And were you crying?"

Trini helped her sit up and didn't answer her. Kimberly swallowed hard when she found herself close to Trini again to smell her shampoo and see the faint splash of freckles on her nose. She can count on one hand how many times Trini let her get this close and two of them happened today, when she was deliberately trying to avoid her.

"Kim?" She looked at Trini, who was staring at her expectantly. Kim realized she had asked her a question. Shit, what had she asked? She frantically searched her mind for anything, but nothing came to mind.

"Um." The other girl gave her an exasperated look, and she tried giving her a grin that she hopes looks charming enough to let her off the hook. It didn't work, judging from the way her eyebrow were raised.

"Jesus, how hard did you hit your head," Trini muttered, hoisting her up and supporting her until they got back to her room. She dumped Kimberly on her bed and scanned the room with a frown. "I thought you were staying with Jason."

"Well if you had stayed long enough, you would know that I didn't want to spend the night at his house," she replied, leaning back and avoiding the metal bed frame above her. She made a pained noise at the sharp throb in her head.

"You're such an idiot," Trini told her, her hands hovering above her like she wanted to check her injuries, but didn't know if it was okay to touch her. Kim didn't know if it was okay either. Trini confused the hell out of her, going from sneaking into each other's houses everyday to avoiding her every moment she could. It gave her whiplash. She curled up on herself, something that didn't go unnoticed by Trini. "Kimberly..."

"Why'd you avoid me today?" she asked quietly, trying not to meet her eyes. She heard Trini take a deep breath, pause, then let it all out in a whoosh of air. This happened three times, like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to say it.

"The past couple of days have been hard for me," she started out with, pausing again to find the right words. Kim didn't push, just stared at the many beds lined up against he wall. "Ever since that night with Zack's mom, my parents have been even more nosier than usual. They always ask me about that girl that I met up with late at night who held the door open for me and made me smile in a way they haven't seen for a long time. I snapped last night and told them I was gay. They told me there were places that could fix me, that other people that used to be like me went to and were cured. She made it sound like some kind of disease! I told them if they couldn't accept me, then I'll leave. They told me to pack my bags and go."

"God, Trini. I don't know what to say..." Kimberly trailed off uncertainly.

Trini laughed, sounding hollow. "The thing is, I'm not even surprised. I've been preparing for this moment ever since I turned fourteen and kissed a girl."

Kim pursed her lips and resisted the urge to find Trini's family and beat some sense into them. The feeling scares her; it's something she kept locked away and only let out on a few occasions, like punching Ty. She wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and felt her body shaking. Trini leaned into Kim and let all the walls she built up go for once. She didn't know how long they sat there, maybe for minutes, or maybe for hours. The crying slowly subsided, leaving behind a wet shirt and red eyes.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Trini mumbled from where she was lying, curled up into Kim's side. She pressed a kiss to her temple in return.

"Just talk to me next time," she responded quietly. She could feel Trini's body shake from soft laughter. "What?"

"Last time you asked me that, you threw me off a cliff."

"Oh my god, I said I was sorry. You're never going to let that go, are you."

"Nope." Trini popped the 'p' and turned her head to give her a cheeky smirk. Kimberly felt her heart skip a beat and wondered how she could survive more than a day being ignored by her best friend. She was a huge part of her life, and Kim felt lost without her. She relished the closeness they had again and prayed that nothing like today would ever happen again.

"Princess," Trini said, breaking the comfortable silence. Kim smiled at the nickname and made a noncommittal noise, almost asleep. "You've heard why I'm here. Why are you?"

Her eyes flew open. She was so caught up in Trini that she forgot that she didn't want any of the others knowing she slept here a lot. Kim wracked her brain for an excuse. "I-um..."

"And don't think about lying either," she said, glaring at her. "I just cried in front of you and spilled my guts. It's your turn."

Something about Trini made her want to tell the truth, so she did. Some of it, at least. She told her about how she could practically feel her parent's disappointment at having a daughter who almost became a sex offender, punched a guy's tooth out, became a pariah, and wasn't going to some big-shot college in the Northeast. So to escape them, she came here. It's not like they cared, she just told them she was with a friend. It was easy to slip away, so she finds herself doing it more and more.

The silence was overwhelming after that. Kimberly felt herself tense more and her heartbeat quicken in anxiety. Trini noticed and grabbed her hand, her thumb rubbing circles on her palm soothingly.

"I never knew," Trini whispered, her hold tightening in distress. "We literally can feel each other's feelings and I never knew."

"Trin, I was the Queen Bee ever since 6th grade. I learned how to hide my emotions, it's not your fault."

"Still-"

"It's not your fault," she repeated firmly. "It's not."

"We're a fucked up group of kids, aren't we," Trini stated after another small silence. "We may be superheroes, but we're all fucked up."

Kimberly just sighed. That itself was answer enough.

_/Line Break\_

Graduation was here quickly. Trini slept on the ship with Kimberly escaping home as much as she could to stay with her. Jason had been livid when he found out they spent their nights there because Trini was kicked out and Kim didn't feel comfortable enough to stay at home. He offered numerous times for them to stay at his place, but there were only so many girls he could bring back without his father getting suspicious. Billy also offered, but he lived in a small apartment and they didn't want to burden his mom. Zack had actually started sleeping there too since he had nowhere to go. Alpha was overjoyed; a couple million years stuck in a ship alone had even androids craving contact.

Jason's parents and sister came. Billy's mom kept straightening out his cap. Only Kimberly's dad could make it. Zack said his mom was watching this from wherever she was.

Trini's family didn't come and she put on her mask of indifference. Kimberly wondered if the others picked up the slight sadness in the bond. She didn't mention it.

The ceremony was long and grueling, and she just wanted it to be over. She could feel the annoyance coming from everyone except Billy, he was excited. The only thing that kept her sane was Trini making faces at her a few seats away. She was very glad that 'Gomez' wasn't far from 'Hart'.

They went through the motions: getting a speech, receiving their diplomas, throwing their caps in the air, and taking lots of pictures. She was pretty sure she saw tears in Mrs. Cranston's eyes. Jason's dad had clapped him on the back and stared at him with pride, the biggest show of affection Kim had seen since the accident. Her dad was already lecturing her about the future now that she's out of high school. She plastered on a fake smile and nodded in the right places. He kissed her cheek and took a quick picture before telling her he had to go for work.

"Look, he's leaving as soon as possible. Probably doesn't wanna be associated with her." There was a familiar, snarky voice behind her that made her tense up and hunched her shoulders automatically. She turned to see Amanda standing with Ty, the both of them staring at her with similar expressions of disgust. She felt a familiar feeling creep up her back.

"Hey, back off." Trini was suddenly in between them, her small frame blocking as much of Kim as she could. She took a step towards the couple, but Kimberly grabbed her wrist and gave her a pleading look. The other girl huffed, but backed off.

"Amanda," she said, taking a deep breath. "I just wanted to tell you something before we leave and never see each other again." Amanda cocked an eyebrow and looked at her expectantly. She gathered up her courage.

"I'm sorry. I did a shitty thing that no one should ever do, especially not a so-called best friend, and I know it might be too late to apologize, but I'm going to anyway." She bit her lip. "I deserve a lot worse than all the words you've whispered and all the things written on my locker because I ruined your life. And I'm sorry for everything."

"Is that it?" she said, her face an icy mask, something she had to learn ever since they became the 'it' girls. Ty was still glaring at her, and Kim expected that she wouldn't be forgiven. But it felt good to get it all off her chest, and she hoped one day Amanda could think of her without blinding hatred.

"One more thing," she added because Tyler Fleming hadn't gotten what he deserved yet. He was still a good player on football team, got the girl, and tormented Kim when he was a part of the problem too. "I know you might not believe me, but I wasn't the one who leaked those photos. I was responsible for it even being able to get out, but Ty was the one who sent them to his buddies. Just wanted you to know."

She didn't stick around to see what happened. Instead, she dragged Trini back to the boys. They were all looking at her in concern, and she waved them off with a light grin. She felt lighter now that she didn't have all that stuff weighing her down. She was able to tune into the parent's conversation. They were discussing places to eat as celebration.

"Kimberly, Trini, Zack, would you like to eat with us?" Billy's mom asked kindly, knowing about their home situations, or lack of in Zack and Trini's case. Kimberly felt her heart swell for the woman who treated them all like her own children.

She exchanged glances with the other two and smiled. "Yeah, I think we'd like that."

Lunch was nice. They had decided on a small diner that served the best burgers and milkshakes. The Scotts were a bit more strained than Mrs. Cranston, but they tried. For once, Kimberly felt at home. It was a nice feeling. They had stayed there for over an hour talking and still were talking in the parking lot. How could parents talk this much anyway? Didn't they run out of things to say?

She noticed Jason was giving her a look, and she cocked her head in confusion. It intensified, and she sighed before pulling him away.

"What?" she murmured lowly, casting a glance to the others. Billy was talking about a new project he was working on in great detail. Hopefully the Scotts were used to that by now. Zack was saying something to Trini, and she was frowning heavily, making Kimberly frown too. She'd have to ask about that tonight. They made eye-contact, but Trini broke it quickly and started talking to Zack.

"Are you doing anything for summer?" Jason asked, his tone urgent.

"Um, I don't think so. My parents are taking a vacation to Hawaii though." She wasn't going, she had lied and told them she'd stay at home and guard the house. It didn't take much convincing for them to let her stay, they were probably fed up with her 'teenage rebellion' phase. Fine with her.

"We should take a road trip." At her dubious look, he elaborated. "The five of us, my pickup truck, and just get away from here for a while. Zack needs a distraction from his mom's...you know. So does Trini. I want to go somewhere without my dad breathing down my back about everything, and I know you want to get outta here too. Billy would absolutely love a road trip too."

She thought about it for a second. It was a no-brainer. "I'm in."

Jason smiled widely, looking like a Disney prince with his pearly whites, dimples, and bright blue eyes. "Great. I'll tell the others." He turned to see his parents climbing into the car. "Or I'll text them tonight. Gotta go." He rushed off to catch up with his family, yelling a quick goodbye.

She smiled and shook her head. Of course he would come up with an idea to take their minds off things and let them unwind. Their fearless leader.

"Done talking with your boyfriend?" Trini asked with a raised eyebrow. Zack frowned and shot the girl a look. Billy looked confused.

"You're dating Jason?" he asked softly with a frown. Kimberly shook her head quickly.

"No. I'm not dating Jason. I never have and probably never will," she said defensively, throwing a confused look at Trini. She just stared back with a completely straight face, confusing Kim even more. Not the cold-shoulder thing again. She had thought they gotten over that and wasn't eager to repeat it again.

Mrs. Cranston broke the awkward silence with, "I think Billy and me are gonna head out. We were gonna watch a movie and make some popcorn." Billy clapped his hands excitedly. "You guys are welcome."

All three Rangers shook their heads. "I have to work tonight," Zack said sadly. "But we totally should do it another time."

"Yeah, I think gonna pass too. I'm gonna go" cliff diving "swimming." Trini gave her a look, knowing exactly what swimming meant. She just shrugged.

Billy's mom fixed them all with a smile. "Okay, but remember, you're always welcome at my house."

"Of course," they chorused gratefully. Kim smiled and waved as they drove out of the lot, leaving three.

"I gotta go to work. My boss wasn't too happy last time I was late." He started running towards the pizza parlor a couple blocks down. "See ya later!"

"And then there were two," Kimberly said when he was out of sight. She caught up with Trini and bumped shoulders with her. "What's wrong?"

"You'd tell me if you were dating Jason, right?"

She was caught off guard with the question. Why did she even think they were dating? "Of course, but like I said, Jason and I will never be a thing."

"Okay," the other girl responded, sounding very small in that moment. Kimberly just wanted to take that small, vulnerable tone away.

"What are you doing today?"

"Nothing, obviously. Maybe go back to the ship, do some yoga, train a bit. Why?"

"Want to come with me to my favorite place in the mountains?" Kim offered. No one knew about it, not even the Rangers. It was a place where she could go to be alone and think. Something about the other girl made her want to show it to her.

"Is there a hidden mall in the mountains?" Trini asked with a smirk. She gaped at her and punched her in the arm.

"Jerk. Maybe I'll just leave you behind instead."

"Aww, I'm sorry, princess. Please forgive me and take me to your special spot that isn't a mall?"

Kimberly pretended to think about it. "Fine. But if I beat you there, you owe me a doughnut." She took off running with a grin, being careful not to go to fast where people would get suspicious. She heard Trini yell indignantly in the background.

"Hey, that's not fair! Kimberly! You're the only one who knows where this place is!" There were tell-tale stomps coming up behind her, letting her know Trini was catching up. She sped up.

The real race started when they got out of town. They could finally run as fast as they could without worrying. Kim stayed in the lead the entire time, but she did only know where they were going. She'd climb up mountains while yelling taunts below her and laugh at the insults in return.

"Here!" she yelled, slowing down once she got to a familiar cliff. Her breath came in hard gasps, and her muscles burned pleasantly. She emptied her pockets while waiting for Trini to catch up and found two dollars, a dime, and a piece of gum. She threw it in a pile by the tree line with her gown.

"You ass!" Was the first thing Trini said when she burst out of the trees, panting for breath and glaring at her evilly. "I refuse to buy you anything."

"But Trin," she whined. "You promised."

"I didn't promise, you promised for me!" She caught most of her breath and straightened up to glare more effectively. It just made her laugh harder at the askew beanie and wild hair.

"Same thing."

"No," she grumbled, throwing her phone and gown to the ground next to Kimberly's stuff. She crept up to the side of the cliff and saw water below. "You swim in that?"

"It's calming." She prepared to backflip off the edge when she saw the evil glint in Trini's eyes. "What?"

"I'm sorry." That was all the warning she got before the girl tackled her over the edge. The air whistled in her ears, and she screamed and held onto Trini tighter. It seemed to last a minute and go by in a blink at the same time before she hit the water. It was cool and felt amazing against her overheated skin. She stayed under for a calming moment before swimming up and emerging above the surface with Trini already treading and waiting for her with a wide smile.

"You-you jerk!" she sputtered with a disgruntled look, spitting out water from her mouth. "I said I was sorry like a million times!"

"Gross, Hart. And now we're even, so I'm all good." She looked around at the small pool in wonder. "How'd you find this place?"

"I loved exploring when I was younger. Found this when I turned thirteen and it's been my favorite ever since." She floated on her back and stared at the sky.

"You went back-flipping off cliffs at thirteen? Jesus, you're crazy. And how'd you even get back up?"

"I didn't do it till I was fourteen!" she defended poorly. "And I just kept trying till I got back up. If I fell, there was water below me."

"Fourteen, so much better," Trini said sarcastically. "You're terrible."

"Says the one who won't buy me a doughnut when I won fair and square."

"That race was not fair and square! You had a head start and knew where we were going!"

"Trini Gomez, you owe me a Krispy Kreme doughnut."

"We never agreed on Krispy Kreme."

"We have now."

They were in that pool until the sun started to set, just floating and talking. It was calming, and Kim hasn't felt this good in a long time. Graduating, apologizing to Amanda, and just talking to Trini did wonders for her. Of course she knew she wasn't magically fixed, but she didn't want to focus on that.

"Race you up," she challenged instead. The other girl smirked confidently. Kimberly may be the fastest runner, but she was the best climber by far, jumping from foothold to foothold easily. Kim thinks it's an aftereffect from doing yoga on top of a mountain.

"You owe me a doughnut if I win."

"Deal."

They scaled the walls in under twenty seconds, Trini beating Kimberly by three. She's already celebrating when Kim poked her head over the edge with a sullen frown.

"You owe me a doughnut," Trini said, doing a fist-pump and making Kimberly roll her eyes.

"You owe me a doughnut too!" She wrung her hair out quickly and grimaced at her wet shirt. She should've brought a change of clothes. She peeled the tank top off and started wringing that out too. She turned to Trini to see her staring at her. Kim raised her eyebrows in question, and the other girl quickly turned away.

"Catch," she heard and turned around to almost be nailed in the face by her phone. She glared at Trini, who gave her an innocent face and threw her gown at her too. She looked at the messages she missed in the group chat, already suspecting what it's about.

**Morphin Time**

**Redjay** : Are any of u doing anything for the beginning of summer

 **ZackBlack** : work. what up fearless leader

 **Redjay** : Stop calling me that

 **ZackBlack** : it fits tho

 **BB** : I was planning on spending my summer with you guys.

 **Redjay** : We should take a road trip

 **ZackBlack** : HELL YA

 **BB** : I'd have to ask my mom.

 **ZackBlack** : we can go to the beach and LA

 **Redjay** : We can drive my car and just split the gas money

 **ZackBlack** : im totally in. trini kim?

 **Trin** : Sounds like a terrible idea. I'll go

 **ZackBlack** : IM SO EXCITED NOW

 **Me** : ill go 2

 **Trin** : Kim, it's literally three keys you have to press to spell 'too'

 **Me** : and its only 2 keys i have to press for 2. easier

 **BB** : My mom says she's happy to let me go, I'll just have to call her daily and not get into any trouble.

 **ZackBlack** : dudeeee i have the best idea but i need ur help billy

 **Redjay** : It's settled then. When does everyone wanna leave

 **ZackBlack** : as soon as possible but i need to do this amazing idea with billy first

 **Trin** : I can leave whenever

 **Me** : my parents leave in 2 days

 **BB** : I can go whenever you guys want.

 **Redjay** : Sat work for everyone

 **ZackBlack** : yessssss

 **BB** : Yes

 **Trin** : Yup

 **Me** : course

 **Redjay** : K pack ur bags for a week or two and all the money u can bring. We leave in three days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Title is from "Good Life" by OneRepublic. Chapter title is from "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman. Slowburn Trimberly, road trip AU, lots of fluff, some angst, and just lots of Ranger bonding. Hope you guys like it, tell me if I can fix anything. And come talk to me about headcannons about any of the Rangers on tumblr @anonymoususer10 or put them in the comments. I'll try fitting your headcannons in the story.


	2. don't stop till we hit that west coast shore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: gotta be the good life
> 
> Fandom: Power Rangers
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Saban's Power Rangers, sadly. Lionsgate does. No money is made, but I do like reviews!

Chapter 2: don't stop till we hit that west coast shore

"Kimberly, we've put some money in your bank account for while we're gone!"

Kim groaned and forced herself to stand up and say goodbye. Her parents were leaving today and needed to be at the airport in less than an hour. Of course, they kept getting sidetracked, and she was literally about to throw them in the car so they'd leave.

"You guys have to go." She shoved them out the door and gave them each a quick kiss on the cheek. "Bye mom. Bye dad."

They finally got into the car and waved goodbye. Thank god, they were finally leaving. She waited until they were out of sight before heading back inside and grabbing her phone.

**Morphin Time**

**Me** : parents r gone

 **ZackBlack** : is this a booty call cuz ur gonna have to be more specific on who u want

 **Me** : fuck off

 **BB** : No, Zack. Remember we made plans to go to Kim's and sleep over there so we can leave tomorrow morning?

 **Redjay** : Zack's just being an ass billy. Don't play attention to him

 **BB** : Oh ok.

There was a knocking on the door. If her parents had driven back to grab one more thing, she was gonna punch something. She ripped open the door, startling Trini into a defensive stance. Kimberly stared for a moment before giggling because none of them ever caught Trini off-guard, not even in training. The girl turned red and gripped her bag tighter.

"Shut up or I'll leave," she mumbled, and Kimberly laughed before grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the house.

"If I say something, will you get scared?" she asked innocently, making her friend scowl even harder. Trini reached over to try and slap her arm, but she danced out of her reach. Trini's eyes narrowed and she lunged forward to tackle Kim. The air left her body when her back hit the soft, carpeted floor of her family room.

A weight settled on her stomach, and she cracked her eyes open to look at Trini smirking at her victoriously. It turned into a full blown grin and made her forget to fight back because hasn't smile like that since she was kicked out by her family. Kimberly wished she could see it more.

"You never caught me off-guard," she said decisively. "Or I would be the one pinned now."

Kim smirked at the sentence and leaned forward to stare at her eyes. She just couldn't help it, Trini had left an opportunity too good to pass up. "I wouldn't need to surprise you for you to be underneath me."

Trini sputtered and turned as red as Jason's suit. Kimberly marveled at the deep shad her face had gone in less than a second.

"Hey-oh sorry, was I interrupting something?" Billy was poking his head in the front door with an apologetic look. Jason's head popped up behind him. He raised an eyebrow at the compromising position he saw them in and shot her a look, one that she knew meant that they'd be talking about this later.

"Nah." Trini got off her and dusted her clothes off before extending a hand to the girl on the floor. "We were just wrestling. And I beat her, obviously."

"You caught me off-guard!" she argued petulantly. She knew if she tried telling the boys that she had scared Trini, they'd never believe her because it was pretty obvious who lost the wrestling match.

"All is fair in love and war, Hart." Trini winked at her and pulled Billy in the kitchen, leaving her staring at the spot she was just standing in.

"Okay, we definitely need to talk," Jason muttered, grabbing her wrist and that was when Zack decided to burst through the door. He took one look at their joined hands and started laughing loudly.

"Aww c'mon, the party just got here and you're going to make out upstairs?" he teased, and Kim punched his chest while Jason smacked his head.

There was glass shattering in the kitchen, and they all rushed in to see Trini staring at the counter with shards littering the surface from a now broken cup. She frowned at her bleeding hand like she didn't realize she had broken it.

"Oops," she said quietly and caught the dishrag Billy threw her way. Kim sighed and grabbed the bandages she had hidden for moments like these. She hopped on a stool and held her hand out. Trini obliged and barely winced as she wrapped her palm gingerly.

"Now you owe me a cup and a doughnut," she said under her breath. "What happened?"

"It was a joke." Zack stood to the side with a guilty expression, rubbing his neck.

She was just about to ask what that meant when she saw the murderous look the Trini threw his way. She glanced at Kim, who raised an eyebrow.

"So, pizza?" she asked instead of answering her silent question. There were some excited whoops from the boys, but Kimberly stayed quiet in contemplation.

"Order some from Dominos," She threw her credit card on the table. "I need to go pack. I want bacon."

That was a lie. Well, not the bacon part, she really was craving bacon right now. She had packed the moment Jason confirmed them leaving. She just needed to get away to keep down the quickly growing self-doubt.

She slid down the wall as soon as she shut the door and put all her energy into cutting off the bond, something she's done multiple times before, but it never seemed to get easier. The overwhelming sadness would come at the most random times sometimes, leaving her to try and act normal while pushing down the feeling. Kimberly bit her lip hard to try and distract herself. The copper taste and sharp sting was familiar and somehow soothing.

She didn't know how long she sat there. The doorbell rang, signaling the pizza was here, and she forced herself to stand and go to the basement. Mario Kart was paused on her TV, and all three boys were missing, probably going to get the pizzas. Trini was curled up in the armchair and scrolling on her phone. She looked at her and perked up slightly.

"Hey." The smaller girl's voice was quiet and uncertain. Kimberly shot her a fake smile, something she'd perfected years ago. It still served her today.

"They playing Mario Kart?" she asked, deciding to not acknowledge the tenseness of the room. She plopped down on the side of the couch furthest away from Trini, needing some distance from the person that caused most of the confusion in her life.

"Yeah." A wry smile played with Trini's lips. "Zack and Jason are having a competition: winner gets to choose one thing we do on the trip without any arguments. I'm pretty sure Jason's just wants to make sure Zack doesn't make us do anything stupid."

"If one of us isn't arrested by the end of this trip, I'll eat my hands."

"Gross." Trini's nose wrinkled as she made a face. She tilted her head to listen to the footsteps above them. "I think you'd rather have bacon pizza instead."

"Food!" Zack cheered, balancing five large boxes on one hand and plates on the other. Jason followed with cups and soda, and Billy carried paper towels, a wet rag, and some soap. They had learned the hard way that ranch dressing stains didn't come off the carpet easily unless they were quick about it. Once the pizzas were set down, there was a mad scramble. The five of them fought over slices with more toppings and the limited dipping sauces with the same intensity as fighting Rita. There were some large bruises, deep indents from Kim's nails on Zack's bicep, and one stained shirt at the end of the fight. Kimberly protected her dipping sauce carefully and watched Zack get punched for trying to steal Trini's.

"I bet I can eat more than you," Zack challenged with a wicked smile, and Kimberly groaned because the same thing happened every time. He would challenge the group to a competition and usually only Jason would do it because his ego was in danger. Per usual, their fearless leader puffed out his chest and pulled one box of pepperoni pizza to himself. Zack took the other one and got ready to shove a slice in his mouth.

"Go!"

It was disgusting. They'd barely finish chewing before biting into the piece again. Zack had actually tried putting two slices together and eating them at the same time, prompting Jason to try and eat three at once. She wondered how nothing ever got on the floor, it was a miracle.

Zack tapped out after the eleventh slice and the other boy on his seventh. Jason pushed through and came up with eating twelve and a half pieces. He gave a weak yell and held his stomach in pain.

"Shit, why do we always do this?" he complained. He barely caught the controller Zack threw at his face and looked at it confusedly.

"We still gotta finish our race," Zack smirked and pressed play, ignoring Jason's protests. He easily caught up to his competition since Jason kept driving off the road. To the blonde's credit, he tried valiantly to take back first, but ended up in third. Zack jumped up and yelled excitedly.

"How the hell are you able to move? I wanna die."

Zack's eyes glinted dangerously and he smirked at the boy holding his stomach. "Think about it."

It took a good thirty seconds for it to dawn on Jason, and Kim had to take a bite of her pizza to keep from laughing. "You made me eat all that pizza so you would win!"

"No, sir. I didn't make you, you did it all on your own. And now we have to do one thing without any of you complaining."

Jason sputtered and tried to object, but ended up closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. They could all feel the surrender coming from him in waves. "Fine."

"On the bright side, since you won the pizza competition, you get to pick the movie."

It predictably ended up being The Breakfast Club, Jason's favorite movie. He'd always joke that they reminded him of the Rangers and none of them could argue with that. Every time she saw that movie, she wondered what it'd look like if The Breakfast Club met the Power Rangers. It'd be a weird movie for sure.

Her eyes began to close before the movie was halfway done. She barely registered a blanket resting on her and warm fingers lingering on her cheek before she fell asleep.

_/Line Break\_

"I need to poop."

Everyone in the car groaned and shot Zack a look. He shrugged and leaned away from Trini in case she tried to hit him, not that he had too much room with how small Jason's truck was.

"Zack, we told you to go before we left," Billy said exasperatedly. "We've only been on the road for thirty minutes."

"Those eggs are gonna make a reappearance sometime," he muttered, miming throwing up. "It's that way or the bathroom way. I think I know which one you all want."

Kimberly made a face and stared out the window at the passing cars. It had seemed like a good idea to do this at first, but they're barely anywhere and she's already feeling jumpy and restless. She can't wait until they actually get somewhere. Being cooped in here, even with her friends, was not doing her any favors.

"There's a gas station up on our left," Billy told Jason, looking at a paper map he insisted on buying for the full experience. "We can fill up there and Zack can go to the bathroom."

"How much longer?" Kimberly asked as they got out to stretch their limbs. She sighed happily at the multiple pops her body made and rolled her neck to loosen it.

"Hour and a half probably," Jason responded and she wanted to cry. She never drove anywhere, her parents would always go by plane instead. This whole car thing was long and tiring and annoying.

"C'mon, princess." Trini didn't even looking fazed from the ride. "It's not that far." Easy for her to say, since she moved around the country so much she's gone on trips much longer than two hours. She was used to this life. Kim just wanted to get to the pier.

Unfortunately, that would take a couple more hours.

The radio worked. The air conditioning was much more spotty and when it'd go out, they'd roll the windows down. The air was warm, but it mostly did its job to keep them sorta cool. Kim had tried sleeping the time away, but obviously that wouldn't work with the way Trini's jaw was digging into her arm. She didn't want to move either so she sucked it up and listened to Billy's awful country music station over the wind. It was both disorientating and calming.

Zack kept giving her these strange looks over Trini's beanie and she was fed up with it on the sixth glance.

 **Me** : ?

 **ZackBlack** : is that comfortable

Me: not rlly but idc

 **ZackBlack** : she won't mind if u move i bet

 **Me** : j is about to stop for lunch so it doesnt matter

 **ZackBlack** : how do u know

 **Me** : b has been saying hes hungry for 5 min

She smirked when he parked at an In-N-Out, saying everyone was probably hungry and they should eat. Zack raised his eyebrows at the two boys, but didn't argue because he got food out of this. He was the first to get out of the car.

Trini shifted when his door slammed shut and Kimberly really didn't wanna wake her up, but they should probably eat before they get to the pier so they wouldn't spend as much on food. She gently shook the girl awake. "Trin, we're going to eat." She made an adorable snuffling noise and burrowed deeper into Kim's shoulder. She bit back her laughter and shook her again. "Trini."

"Shut up," Trini grumbled, her voice muffled and rough with sleep. She cracked an eye open to squint at Kimberly. "I'm tryna sleep."

"I'm tryna eat," Kimberly imitated, opening her door and hopping out. "I know you're hungry." Trini scowled but untangled herself from her seatbelt. The other three were already ordering when they got inside.

Zack grinned when he saw them. "Finally. What were you doing, making out in the back seat?" She rolled her eyes and didn't bother that with a response, instead turning to the cashier and ordering.

The five of them somehow managed to cram into a booth. There were elbows and legs everywhere and somehow they didn't make too big of a mess while eating their food. Zack offhandedly mentioned how he wanted to camp in the mountains tonight, causing Billy to clap excitedly and ramble about everything they should do.

"It's 2:41. What's the plan?" Jason asked, sipping his milkshake. Kimberly watched as he offered some to Billy, who didn't want a full milkshake but instead stole some from the blonde. She didn't know how Zack and Trini thought she and him would eventually get together when it was obvious the only one he had eyes on was Billy. Some people were so oblivious.

"When does the sun set?"

"7:30," Billy informed them and looked at his phone again.

"And we want to scout out the mountains before it gets too dark to see anything," Zack jumped in. Kimberly still can't believe they were planning to illegally trespass on some mountains to sleep there. But they could get to places no sane person would think of checking for five rogue teens. They'd be fine. Hopefully.

"Ok, we go there first to find a parking spot and set up camp, then we can head over to the pier and figure it out from there." Jason wore what everyone dubbed his 'red ranger face'. The expression included making battle strategies, shouting orders, and playing Mario Kart.

She noticed her shake was missing and looked around the table for the perpetrator. Her eyes landed on Trini who had swiped the cup when she wasn't looking and was about to eat a spoonful. She saw Kim glaring at her and ate it before she could steal it back. Trini smiled victoriously at her, and her breath caught in her throat because Trini looked beautiful in that moment with a wide smile and bright eyes.

"Kim. Kiiiim." She jolted back from her thoughts and saw everyone staring at her. She shoved her thoughts to the back of her mind and told herself she'd think about that later.

"Hm?"

It was Zack's turn to roll his eyes, and he reached over the booth to flick her forehead. "We were asking if you wanted to do anything specific." He grinned at her scowl. "Keep up."

She stuck her tongue out. "I think we should go on the beach during the sunset."

"Okay. Can we ride the Ferris a Wheel after? It'd be really pretty at night. The line will be really long but..."

"Of course, Bill." She always found it hard to say no to him. It was a weakness she'd never get rid of and didn't mind that either. She couldn't say no to any of these people if they asked hard enough.

The ride to Santa Monica seemed to last forever, and she was pretty sure she could've run there faster with all the energy she had pent up. Trini kept shooting her annoyed looks throughout the ride which didn't really help her too much. Her fingers tapped her knee to a beat only she could hear in an attempt to let out some energy. It didn't work too well.

"Stop," Trini complained and stared at her fingers pointedly. Kim huffed, but stopped tapping nonetheless. She checked the time on her phone again for the third time in the last minute and wondered why time seemed to be going half as fast as it normally did. It felt like sitting in high-school all over again. She didn't miss the feeling.

"We've got ten more minutes, princess, surely you can sit still for that long. And I thought Zack would have this problem."

"Why is it taking so long?" She leaned forward to try and see how fast Jason was going.

"I'm going above the speed limit," he muttered as if he read her mind. She crossed her arms and stared outside the window. Ten minutes. She could do this for ten more minutes.

Road trips always seemed more interesting in the movies. She was the first one out of the car when Jason parked.

"Thank the lord. I don't know how much longer I would've lasted sitting next to Kim." She shot Trini an unimpressed glare and threw Trini's backpack at her. She caught it and slung it over one shoulder smoothly. "Thanks, princess."

Zack was staring at the mountains with a glint in his eye all of them knew too well. He at least had the decency to wait for everyone to grab their stuff before taking off and yelling something about a race. Trini laughed loudly and launched off. Kimberly was right behind her. She focused on the new terrain. She knew the mountains back in Angel Grove like the back of her hand and that might've contributed to the many races she had under her belt, but this was an entirely new area.

She skidded to a stop and narrowly avoiding falling off the edge of a drop. "Shit."

"Aw, it's not that far." Zack peered over the edge. "It'll probably give you a couple bruises, maybe a broken bone depending on how you fell."

"Reassuring," she deadpanned and backed away. She may have super healing powers, but she didn't feel like spending those couple of hours in lots of pain. Kimberly looked at the area they had picked out more closely. It was a large, flat rock that overlooked the coast. She could barely make out the pier from here.

Kimberly heard Billy and Jason reach their little area before she saw them. She faced them with a wide grin, loving the feeling of being out here and free with her second family.

"You brought the tent, right?" Jason asked, grabbing his pack and pulling out the tent he had found in his garage. It was relatively new since he and his dad never actually went camping in it. Kimberly had bought the other tent, a cheap one she had grabbed at Walmart. She pulled it out to show him. He gave her a satisfied nod. "Good."

"We need to check the area for any potentially dangerous things," Billy muttered, his eyes skimming the book he had also gotten for this trip specifically. "Especially snakes." He shuddered. "I hate snakes."

"I'm on it," Jason announced. He started checking every inch of the area, including the sides of the cliff. She resisted to the urge to laugh at how serious he was at Billy's fear. She took them seriously too, just not Jason Scott seriously. She wasn't whipped like he was.

"What do you think he'll do if he actually finds a snake?" Trini whispered and watched their fearless leader bravely look into a hole in the rocks. His shoulders slumped in relief at finding nothing.

Kim shrugged. "Probably scream and try to get someone else to get rid of it. Then say it was all him."

They snickered. The spot they had claimed as their sleeping area was free of any foliage and snakes. She was content started setting up their tent. They had two tents, one for the boys and one for the girls. It took about three tries and Kimberly was about to throw it over the edge and sleep with the bugs in her sleeping bag when Billy finally came over to help them. He did it in less than a minute.

"FUCK, THERE'S A SNAKE! SOMEONE THROW IT OVER THE EDGE!"

_/Line Break\_

They had finally left the mountains around 5:00. There were two more snakes, a beehive, and what they had thought was poison ivy. They were all sure Zack had been infected until Billy had consulted his book and reassured them that it wasn't poison ivy. The run back to the car took about five minutes, and it was another ten to get to the pier on foot without using their speed.

The entrance was bustling with people, tourists and locals alike. There were lots of pictures being taken, and Kimberly had already stepped into four photos. She had to double check every footstep she took.

"Should we take a picture?" Billy asked, looking around. "We should take a picture."

She flagged down a man that didn't seem like he was doing anything too important. "Excuse me, do you mind taking a picture of us?" He took her phone.

"I hope you don't expect me to do this all the time or I'll throw your phone into the water," Zack muttered while grinning at the camera. Kimberly discreetly punched him before taking her phone back and swiping through the photos the guy had taken. Most of them had at least one set of eyes closed, but he got a couple good ones.

"The aquarium closes at in an hour," Billy announced, looking at the sign in front of some stores. "It costs five dollars per person."

Zack took a closer look and snorted. "Anyone twelve and under are free. Trini, think we can convince them that you're twelve? Ya know, since you're so short."

"Fuck off," she retorted, causing a passing mother to shoot them a dirty look and hurry away. This made Zack laugh even louder.

"That's some strong language for someone so young!"

Trini gritted her teeth and launched herself at him. They grappled in the middle of the crowd, and Kimberly saw Billy and Jason inching away from them. That was a good idea, pretend she didn't know the two idiots fighting in the middle of the boardwalk.

Trini ended up getting Zack into a headlock since she was able to avoid the many people around them easier than the bigger boy. The people around them cheered, and she turned red as she noticed how everyone was watching them.

Kimberly watched as Zack bowed and thanked the crowd. He solemnly said that Trini may be tiny, but she's fierce. She saw the guys in the crowd scoff to themselves at the thought of losing to a girl who was barely over five feet tall. She barely kept herself from snickering while getting Zack's hat, which Trini had knocked off earlier.

"Dude, are ya gonna lose to that chick too?"

Zack turned to where the voice had come from. "She could totally take any of you down." His face was deadly serious, which made some people laugh. The guy who had called him out raised an eyebrow and looked at her appreciatively, making her skin crawl.

"Maybe she'll take me out after taking me down," he muttered to his friend, causing Kimberly to roll her eyes at the terrible pickup line. He was definitely good-looking. He had short, dark hair and a tan, muscled body that contrasted with his blinding white smile. Shirtless, of course, with swim trunks and even one of those tacky necklaces. She bet he was a surfer too. The old Kimberly Hart would've gone for him in a second. She didn't want to touch him with a ten-foot pole though.

"What do ya say?" he asked, shooting a grin at her that nearly blinded her. He took a step towards her. "I'm Will, by the way."

Kim grimaced. "Sorry, I'm not looking for a relationship." She was used to rejecting people, she'd done it countless times since she was old enough to know what dating was. That was the easiest part, the person's reaction to the rejection was not. She's run into all of them and she was pretty sure she knew what this guy's reaction was.

"Aw, c'mon. One dinner?" Ah, she was right, Will was a guy who just kept asking. Then when she kept saying no, they'd embarrass themselves.

"She said no," Trini said firmly, stepping in between the two. This was the second time she had placed her body in between Kimberly and potential dangers this week. It was really sweet considering she was significantly shorter than Kim so she couldn't completely block her but still tried her hardest.

"I'm pretty sure she can speak for herself."

"I dunno how good your hearing is but I said no." Kimberly peeked over Trini's shoulder. He looked surprised at the rejection. He probably wasn't used to it.

Will's friends were snickering in the background, causing him to turn red and look around uncertainly. Jason, Zack, and Billy had closed in around the two girls, making him decide she wasn't worth it. He shot another glare to the two girls and dragged his friends off.

"Only been on the trip for a couple hours and you've already got people hitting on you." Zack gave her a suggestive look and dodged her punch. She ignored him and started walking quickly to the aquarium. The whole Will thing had lost them about ten minutes and Billy really wanted to see this place.

"I wonder who's the next one who's being hit on," Zack continued, staring thoughtfully at each one of them. "I mean, we're all pretty hot, especially me. But I might be too hot that the girls will get too nervous to talk to me."

"Keep telling yourself that," Trini muttered, making Kimberly laugh loudly.

"It depends on where we go next," Billy answered Zack, taking his question seriously. He started listing off the various scenarios where each of them would get hit on and why. He got distracted when they saw the many creatures in the aquarium and had clapped excitedly while telling them a bunch of random facts about each animal.

Sadly they didn't get to see everything since they had less than an hour, but it was twenty-five dollars well spent. Kimberly didn't really like it too much, but Billy was happy and excited and that was good enough for her to see the way his eyes had lit up when they had walked in. She knew the others would say the same thing.

"Dude, corndogs!" Zack yelled, bounding up to the vendor's cart and getting in line. Jason was right behind him and the other three were following at a more normal pace. The food was overpriced, but it wasn't like they did this all the time. Kimberly got a quick selfie of them eating without anyone realizing it. Zack had mustard smeared over his face, Billy was about to take a bite of his, Jason was mid-chew, and Trini had on a wide smile while pointing at Zack's face.

She smiled and set it as her lock screen.

It had been Jason's idea to get a t-shirt from every place they visited, so they each ended up with Santa Monica Pier shirts in their respective colors. The funny thing was that yellow had run out of small sizes somehow and Trini ended up with a shirt that brushed her knees. Zack teased her relentlessly for it until she almost threw him into the water. He shut up after that.

Kimberly checked the time on her phone. The sun wouldn't set for another twenty minutes and the others wanted to go on a ride, but she didn't feel like waiting in line. "Hey, you guys can go on the ride but I think I'll check out the beach."

The others looked at her confusedly. Jason said, "But you love rollercoasters."

"Not as much as I hate waiting." She gave them a wry smirk. "I'll just go for a walk."

"What if someone tries bothering you again? We won't be here." Jason was probably the hardest to convince, which was saying something since all of them were very stubborn, but he liked to keep tabs on all of them. Must be some kind of leader thing.

Kimberly smirked and leaned forward like she was about to tell them a secret. "I dunno if you guys heard, but I knocked out a dude's tooth once. They put it back, but still, it was pretty badass."

Zack let out a guffaw of laughter and elbowed Jason. "You heard her, she can handle herself."

The other boy rolled his eyes at the two of them. "Fine. But be careful."

"I'll be fine. Just come get me when you guys wanna get on the Ferris Wheel." Kimberly crossed her arms and looked at the four of them expectantly when they didn't move. She swatted at them. "Go!"

They finally obliged, but didn't stop looking back at her as they walked away. Billy would just smile and wave at her, and she couldn't even try to look annoyed at him. Jason, on the other hand, would receive a glare until he turned back around. He usually just shot her an unimpressed look. Zack didn't look back much, but when he did, he'd do some ridiculous pose like flexing and kissing his biceps for her. Trini would unfailingly punch him in his arm when he did and turn back to Kim so she could see her eye roll. When they were out of sight, she sighed and started walking.

It should've been calming, but it left her to her own thoughts. She hated getting lost inside her own head, nothing good ever came from it. To distract herself, she thought about the things that made her happy. Her friends, obviously.

Her mind was drawn to the moment in the diner with Trini. Where Kim had thought she was breathtakingly beautiful. Did girls think that about their other girl friends platonically?

She had never thought of any other girls like that before. Ever since she was old enough to know what dating was, it was always boys, boys, boys. She had been the girl who got married on the playground to Tommy Oliver in kindergarten and always daydreamed about her future life with her crush during class. She was the girl who was asked out by football player Ty Fleming and became the it couple. She never had even thought about liking girls.

"Kim!"

A sharp voice calling her name had her turning in confusion. Trini was jogging up behind her and fixed her with a confused look as she caught up.

"I called your name like three times. Did you not hear me?"

Kimberly blushed. She's been zoning out a lot more than usual lately. "Um, no. Sorry."

Trini just shook her head and smiled. "You need hearing aids."

"I do not!"

"Do too."

"I wasn't expecting anyone to talk to me, you're supposed to be waiting in line."

The other girl shrugged nonchalantly and kicked the sand. She looked at the ocean. "I didn't feel like waiting in line either."

Kim smiled, but it felt awkward and stilted. Now that the thought of potentially liking girls popped in her mind, it made her second guess everything she did and thought. Did she like the way Trini's curls blew in the wind and if so, did that make her not as straight as she thought or could she just admire a friend's hair. She was terrified of the answer, so she shoved it in the back of her mind.

She may be a superhero, but she's still a coward. That will never change.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Trini was giving her an inexplicable look, and it was Kim's turn to look away this time.

She tried to smile convincingly. "Just wondering how cold the water is."

"Uh huh." She didn't look convinced, but dropped it anyway. They walked in silence, the air around them charged somehow. Whether it was something good or something bad, Kim didn't know.

She tried to focus on the other things. She was on a road trip with her friends, basically family. They were at Santa Monica Pier and going to many other places. She was walking the beach with Trini and it was a beautiful day. Focus on the good things, and the bad things couldn't do anything then. At least for now.

"How long do you think it'll take the boys to find us?"

Kimberly smirked and shrugged. "They'll figure it out."

"Correction, Billy will figure it out."

"That's what I meant." They both laughed for a moment before settling into an awkward silence. It was weird and new and Kim wasn't sure how to handle it. Her senses just seemed acutely aware of everything Trini did. Trini's hand tucking a piece of hair behind her ear; the way she bit her lip slightly; how her fingers fiddled with the hem of the ridiculous yellow shirt she got; the slight crinkle between her eyebrows when she was thinking.

Kim tried to snap out of it. Her nails dug into her palms and she tried focusing on the sting.

It wasn't working too well.

"You wanna swim?" Kim asked after a couple minutes of walking. Trini shot her a dubious look.

"Are you kidding? The water's probably cold as fuck, and the sun's about to set."

"...and?"

Trini shot her a deadpanned look. "That's when the sharks come out, dummy. I thought you lived in California."

"Okay, we live in Angel Grove. That might as well be in Montana," Kimberly defended herself. "And I'm a freaking Power Ranger, I could totally wrestle a shark."

"You sound like Zack," the other girl grumbled. "I won't let you die by a shark, you'd leave me all alone with the three idiots."

"Two," Kim interjected. "Billy doesn't count, he's an angel."

"Okay, two idiots, and each idiot counts as two idiots, so technically that's four idiots and an angel you'd be leaving me with."

Kim shrugged. "But swimming."

"But death, Kimberly Hart."

"I could win against a shark!"

"Sure, whatever you say, princess."

"I could!"

"Could not."

"Could too."

"Nope."

Kimberly turned and tackled Trini into the sand, and started tickling the smaller girl's ribs. Trini gasped and tried shoving her off, but Kim stayed vigilant.

"I beat you, so I could definitely take on a shark. Just say I'm right."

Trini's chest was heaving as Kim paused the tickling. She glared up at her fellow Ranger. "You can't tickle a shark into submission, Kim, this wouldn't work."

Kimberly shook her head in faux sadness. "C'mon, Trin. All you have to do is agree with me." She wriggled her fingers threateningly.

Trini shook her head, her face set stubbornly. Kimberly sighed dramatically and resumed digging her fingers into the other girl's ribs. Trini shrieked, not that she'd ever admit to that, and used her super strength to shove Kim off. Even though she's the smallest, she was incredibly strong when the situation called for it. Apparently tickling fit into one of those situations.

Kim flew through the air and landed on the sand a few feet away. Trini laughed for a moment before realizing that she wasn't getting up.

"Kim?" She crept closer. "You good?"

When Kimberly didn't answer, the other girl nudged. Kim turned over to give Trini the saddest puppy dog eyes she could muster. "That hurt."

Trini scoffed. "No it didn't you big baby. You probably barely felt it."

"It's all in the intentions, Trini Gomez. I'm very wounded."

She pouted, but the only effect it had was making Trini roll her eyes and tug at Kim's arm. "Get up, loser."

"All those mean words are gonna kill me one day," the taller girl grumbled, letting herself get pulled up by Trini. She saw a little boy making a sandcastle and her eyes lit up. She turned to Trini with a giddy smile. "We should build a sand castle!"

"Of course the princess wants to build a castle."

"Shut up, it'll be fun."

"We don't even have a shovel."

"There are these things called hands, Trini," Kimberly teased, pulling her to a spot that's relatively far from everyone else. She dug her hands into the soft sand and looked at Trini expectantly. The other girl stared at her for a second before dramatically plopping into the sand. Kimberly rewarded her with a grin.

Sitting there with Trini made Kimberly feel at ease, something she hasn't felt in years it seemed like. The atmosphere around them was easy and relaxed, and they talked about random things while building the castle. Kim's cheeks and stomach hurt from laughing so much when the boys found them.

"Nice castle." Jason gave a pointed smirk towards Kimberly, who ignored him. Zack tilted his head in slight interest and started piling sand up with them.

Billy clapped his hands excitedly. "I love building sand castles!" He sat down next to the two girls and began to make a new wing to their castle. In a couple minutes with their super speed, the sand castle was almost as tall as Trini. Kimberly stepped back and observed their handiwork in satisfaction.

"I told you building a sand castle would be fun." She stuck her tongue out. Trini just rolled her eyes and pointedly ignored her.

"I wonder if there are any shark teeth I can find," Zack murmured thoughtfully, his eyes examining the waves lapping at the shore.

Jason shrugged and looked at the sky. "Well, the sun is setting and Kim wanted to walk during the sunset."

"Wait." Kim tugged Trini back to their castle and snapped a quick picture. She looked at it with a small smirk. "Okay, we're good."

"I get it, I'm short. No need to rub it in."

Kimberly just laughed and ran into the water. It was shockingly cold, but it felt amazing to Kim, who seemed to thrive in all forms of water. She hummed contently as the waves lapped at her calves.

Zack, as usual, challenged Jason to finding a shark's tooth, and their noses were basically touching the sand as they looked. Billy was listing the characteristics of a tooth to both of them.

She couldn't believe how much she loved these idiots.

Trini caught up with her and looked back at the boys. "I bet Billy's gonna find the first one."

Kim nodded in agreement. "Oh for sure." Zack and Jason just kept picking up bits of shells and asking Billy if it was a tooth. Every rejection made them look harder. It was pretty amusing.

True to their predictions, the first thing Billy picked up was a shark's tooth. It was dark and about the size of the pad of her forefinger.

Zack tilted his head and poked it gently. He frowned. "It's not very sharp. I thought sharks had sharp teeth."

"Yeah, well when there's a whole mouthful of those teeth, you're gonna think they're pretty sharp," Trini told him. She looked at Kim pointedly. "And you would definitely die if you tried to wrestle one."

"But we're Power Rangers!"

"See, Zack agrees." Kim looked at Trini victoriously. The other girl cast Jason a pleading look.

"Um, I think the likelihood of winning a fight against a shark is low," he said after a short pause.

Zack sighed exaggeratedly and turned to Billy. "I guess you're the tie-breaker."

"And the only opinion that will be true," Jason muttered. Kimberly nodded in agreement.

Billy furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, what shark are we talking about?"

"Great White," Kim and Zack said simultaneously. Trini and Jason just shared hopeless looks.

"Oh, you'd definitely get your ass-sorry, butt kicked."

"Bet," Zack challenged. Kimberly just shook her head. She knew when to give up.

"We aren't betting anything," Jason said over Trini's, "I'll buy you doughnuts for the next week if you win."

They always bet in Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It is the food of life, apparently.

Zack actually made a move to get in the water, but Kimberly grabbed the back of his shirt just in time. She fixed him with a look and shoved him towards Jason, who had his disappointed face on. He threw an arm around Zack's shoulders, but judging by Zack's annoyed whine, it was a way of stopping him from doing anything.

"But Jason, you said I could do anything I wanted!"

Billy frowned and shot a confused look at Zack. "But I thought we were-"

"Shh! It's a surprise, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

Kim and Trini shared a suspicious look. Whatever Zack was planning, it probably wasn't good news. Kimberly remembered one time Zack convinced them all to do something. It ended with them evading a couple police cars.

In short, Zack's ideas sucked. Badly.

Kim looked at the sun. "We better start heading back to get in line for the Ferris Wheel."

Zack smirked, and Kimberly immediately said, "No."

He pouted, and honestly, he basically is a five-year-old. "But Kimmy, I wanna race."

"We're out in the open, literally anyone can see us."

"We'd be going too fast for them to see our faces."

"Um, still no." She paused. "Plus, you'd be pouty because I'd beat you."

Zack gaped at her, and she flashed a grin at him. Seconds later, they both hit the water as he tackled her. The cold sent a sudden jolt through her body, and she rolled them over so Zack was the one getting soaked. He sputtered and shoved her off.

"Now my clothes are wet," he said indignantly, peeling the fabric away and trying to air it out.

She stared at him. "Are you kidding me? It's all your fault that we're soaked." She saw Trini covering her laughter behind her hand, and shot the girl a halfhearted glare. She was supposed to be on Kim's side!

She turned to Jason for help. "Ranger Dad, are you gonna do anything?"

Jason stopped snickering to look at her disbelievingly. "Ranger Dad? I thought that's what we called Zordon!"

"No, we call Zordon 'Wall Dad'. You're 'Ranger Dad'." Trini smirked at his expression, and Billy lightly patted him on the back.

"If it helps, I don't call you that."

"Thanks, Billy," Jason muttered, glaring at the other three teens.

Zack laughed. "We're the unruly teenagers in this family. Billy is the mom." He frowned slightly. "In a way."

"I'd say Kim is more of the mom," Trini said thoughtfully.

"Are you kidding me? She just tackled me into the water!"

"You tackled me!"

Trini sighed. "You're right. Kim's definitely not the role model here."

"Hey!" she replied indignantly, wondering if she should be annoyed or not. She wasn't really sure whether to take that as an insult.

"Okay, kids. Time to stop arguing because we're here," Jason interrupted, accepting his dad role full force now. If he starts making dad jokes, Kimberly might die. Normal Jason jokes are bad enough, but Dad Jason jokes will be a whole new level of terribleness.

She settled on ignoring him and getting in line instead. Surprisingly, the line wasn't as long as they expected. Kim would guess it was around a half-hour wait, give or take a few minutes. Still a long time in her eyes, but she'd take it.

To pass the time, they played a chopstick tournament, which Trini had to teach them all, and some surprisingly intense games of ninja. Trini obviously won the chopsticks tournament, but Kimberly and Zack were tied in wins for ninja. Kim refused to let him win because she knew he'd be insufferable about it.

"That was my bicep!"

"No, man. That was definitely your forearm." The people in line were looking at them strangely, but they were all used to it now. At this point, nothing could be more surprising than high school.

Zack and Jason looked at Billy expectantly. He was the official ref of the game since he chose to opt out.

Billy chewed his lip nervously. "Sorry, Jason, but I think Zack's right."

Jason sighed and stepped away to stand next to Billy and Trini. She had quit playing after Kim hit her too hard and left a large bruise on the girl's forearm. As if she could read Kim's mind, Trini rubbed her arm and glared at her accusingly. Kim just shrugged and grinned charmingly. Judging from Trini's eye roll, it didn't work too well.

"Alright, Kimmy. Let's do this." Zack cracked his neck and threw her a smirk, his eyes shining mischievously.

She bounced up and down on her feet. "Yeah, get ready for me to kick your butt, Taylor."

Zack scoffed and lunged forward suddenly. He went after her good arm, and she moved it to the side just in time. The risky move left Zack's arm across her, practically begging to be hit. Kimberly obliged, and her hand was a blur as it came down on his hand with a resounding smack. She could see the other three wince at the bright red mark on Zack's hand, but the boy just laughed.

"I guess we're playing like that." He was frozen for what seemed like forever, and Kim could feel her heart speeding up in anticipation. She moved her arm the moment Zack's hand moved, and it was safely out of the way.

Unfortunately, she guessed the wrong arm.

Zack juked her out and slapped her right forearm, almost lightly as if he was taunting her. She gritted her teeth and ignored his laugh. She lashed out at his remaining arm quickly, but he moved quicker. They exchanged a few more of these almost-hits when they reached the front of the line.

Before they boarded the ride, she slapped Zack's hand.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Zack immediately whipped around to Billy for his ruling.

He shrugged. "Well, technically we never stopped the game, so that was a valid turn."

Kim laughed at the look on his face as they boarded the Ferris Wheel. The wheel was lit up in multiple colors, a shining beacon in the night. The attendant closed the door, and they sat there in anticipation for the ride to start again. The ride lurched, and they started moving. Zack peered over the edge with an incredulous laugh. He nudged Jason. "Can I spit?"

Trini laughed as Jason grabbed Zack to pull him away from the edge with a panicked expression. Kim marveled at Trini's laughter. The other girl rarely laughed freely, a side effect from the walls she built up to protect herself. Old habits die hard, Kim would know.

Trini met her eyes and quirked her eyebrows, alerting Kimberly to the fact that she was staring unabashedly. She felt heat rush up to her face, and she averted her eyes quickly to look down at the pier.

Instead of answering Trini's silent question, Kim went with sticking her head out of the side of the seat. Even before she became a ranger that could withstand large falls, Kim was never afraid of heights. She actually enjoyed the rush being so high up gave her. The wind ruffled her hair, and she closed her eyes. Right here, she felt more weightless than she had in years. No school responsibilities, no ranger responsibilities, no worries.

Mostly. There were a lot of things Kim actually needed to address in her life, but for now she was going to ignore it. She's gotten pretty good at that.

As if he was put on this earth to annoy her today, Zack started to rock back and forth, rocking the entire seat. Trini grabbed the railing tightly and Jason started stringing together a bunch of curse words while Billy admonished him for cursing so loudly when children could hear.

Kim rolled her eyes and fixed Zack with a look. "Zackary, I swear to god, if you keep shaking this thing, you will wake up very unpleasantly."

He turned slightly white, and Kim smirked. She hasn't been the top of the social pyramid for a while, but she still knew how to bitch.

She plopped down next to Trini and peeled her fingers from the metal bar. Kim chuckled and shook her head at Trini's expression. "I didn't think you were scared of heights."

She turned red and glared at Kim. "I'm not."

In lieu of a response, she just stared pointedly at the small indents in the railing Trini had left.

Trini's eyes widened, and she covered her face. "Puta madre. I hope they don't notice."

Surprisingly, Trini was the most cautious when it came to their secret superpowers, even more than Jason. Kim chalked it up to the girl having to hide lots of things her entire life. She sighed inwardly. Once again, she was trying to figure out the mystery that was Trini Gomez, but Trini couldn't just be figured out. She had to trust Kim enough to let her see what was happening.

Kim noticed Trini was staring at her, and she realized she never responded to Trini's statement. "Um, I'm sure they won't," she muttered, her face hot. Her hand, which had still been grasping Trini's, dropped Trini's like it burned her. She pursed her lips and tried to ignore the frown Trini wore.

Jason, with his dad intuition, stared at the two with a frown of his own. He cocked an eyebrow at Kim, who narrowed her eyes in response. She didn't want to acknowledge what just happened, so he shouldn't even try. If Kimberly concentrated, she could feel the disappointment thrumming beneath her skin, Jason's disappointment. Out of all of them, Jason was the worst at keeping his feelings hidden. Well, excluding Billy. But the golden boy has always been on display for everyone, he didn't really need to hide if people saw what they wanted to either way.

She shook her head. She really needed her brain to take a break on the deep thinking for now. It was getting tiring.

They reached the top, and Kim looked around in awe. The entire lit-up pier was visible from the top. Below them, lights flashed and spun, reflecting off the ocean surrounding them. Above, the stars shined, millions of them in the sky framing the moon.

The end of the ride came quickly, in Kim's opinion. The five of them got off and started wandering around aimlessly, talking about nothing in particular when Kim caught sight of the carnival games. She grabbed Trini, almost vibrating with excitement, making the shorter girl groan as Kim dragged her towards the games.

"Kim, these are all rigged so you don't win," Trini muttered, rolling her eyes at some guy trying to win a girl a ridiculously huge teddy bear. Kim smirked cockily and leaned in.

"Don't forget, I'm a Power Ranger," she whispered in Trini's ear. She heard the sharp intake of her breath, and Kimberly just realized what she was doing. She shot upright suddenly, feeling a light blush settle on her face.

Kim chewed on her lip, glancing at the slight crease between Trini's eyebrows. She needed to do something, anything to alleviate the tension that had just skyrocketed in a second.

"Three please." She handed the money to the boy working the booth.

Trini scoffed and pulled her to the side. "Dude, you know that the bottles are fixed to not fall over."

Kim shrugged. "Superpowers conquer all?" Trini just rolled her eyes in response and made a go-ahead gesture.

When she turned around, Zack was studying the booth. Billy muttered something about lead to Jason, who nodded. She stepped up to grab the balls the worker offered her. Zack snatched one and observed it closely. He hefted it up and frowned.

"You done?" Kim asked after a minute, unimpressed.

Zack just grinned in response. "I'm up next."

Jason groaned and buried his face in his hands, but didn't comment. He knew at this point that he couldn't stop Zack from doing anything.

Kim took a breath and wound up. The ball slammed into the bottom left bottle, causing the top to topple over. That left one bottle. The large prizes were already eliminated, but Kim had her eye on a certain stuffed toy.

The second ball barely missed the bottle. Kim took a deep breath and focused. If she didn't make this, then she didn't get anything. She wound up for the third time.

The ball slammed into the last bottle, sending it hurtling towards the wall since Kim threw it so hard. She did a little dance to celebrate.

Trini laughed as the boy picked up the last bottle, which now had a long crack running down the side.

"That one," she answered when he asked which stuffed toy she wanted. The moment she was handed it, Zack shoved her out of the way and paid for three balls.

Zack threw the ball faster than Jason could warn him to be careful, and he paid dearly for that. The bottles exploded in shards of glass, and the ball embedded itself into the wall.

The poor boy stuck working looked at Zack with wide eyes. He started stammering, his eyes darting between the five of them and the mess they left.

Jason slapped down a 10-dollar bill and started dragging Zack away. Trini and Kimberly exchanged looks and hurried after them. They walked in silence with only the occasional meaningless comment, due to always having some kind of audience. The parking lot with their car though, was empty.

Jason just kinda paced around for a while, opening mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then snapping it shut. This happened a couple times, and Kim looked on in amusement.

Trini leaned over. "What do ya think he's gonna do?"

"You see that vein on the side of his temple?" Kim murmured. She nodded. "Well, he's about to explode, you can see how it's throbbing and turning purple."

Trini squinted her eyes. "Oh my god, you're right."

As Kim predicted, Jason exploded, ranting on and on about being more careful. She rolled her eyes. Yes, they should be careful, but Jason was taking this way too seriously. The worst that probably could've happened was that the boy thought Zack was on steroids.

"Jason," she piped up, pushing herself off the car. "Chill, the kid probably didn't even care. Can we just go?"

"I need Zack to promise me to not do any dumb shit anymore."

Trini crossed her arms and cocked her eyebrows at him. "This is Zack we're talking about."

"Hey!" Zack complained, making an exaggerated frown. Kim mirrored his expression and ducked the halfhearted swing he took at her.

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Kimberly could already imagine the grey hairs and wrinkles he would have in no time. He glanced at Billy for his ruling. The boy just shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's not like we're gonna see him again, right?"

Since Billy wasn't too concerned, Jason decided to let go of the incident. After all, Billy's opinion was the only one that mattered anyway, with him actually using logic and stuff.

Zack pumped his fist in victory and took off up the mountain. Billy went off after him with a cry of "wait up", causing even Jason to crack a smile. He was gone in less than a second.

Trini and Kim glanced at each other, and Kim raised her eyebrows in a silent challenge. Trini snorted.

"You're on, princess," she muttered, scuffing her sneakers against the pavement and getting in a ready stance.

Kim rolled her shoulders and threw the smaller girl a confident grin. "Get ready to get your ass whooped, Gomez."

They counted down in unison and suddenly, all Kim felt was the pounding of her feet and the rush of the wind.

Trini was slightly ahead when they were coming up on the campsite, so she had to improvise. Kim pushed herself to run faster, her arms and legs pumping.

Right before Trini touched their tent, Kim launched herself at Trini, tackling the other girl so she couldn't win the race. Technically, at least.

Trini sputtered in disbelief as soon as they stopped rolling on the ground, a tangled mess of limbs. "You just tackled me!"

In lieu of a response, Kim got up and went to go touch the tent to win the race. Her fingers were barely inches away from the material when she was tackled to the side. In less than a second, she was on the ground and blinking owlishly at the girl sitting on top of her.

"You just tackled me," she murmured with a frown. Trini just grinned and touched the tent before Kim even registered that she wasn't sitting on her anymore.

"I win," she gloated, and Kim groaned from the ground. Playing dirty really did come back to bite her in the ass.

The sound of Zack's laughter reached her ears, and she turned to watch him break a bunch of sticks in half. He grinned crookedly. "While you two were too busy on top of each other, we were getting ready for a fire."

Kim groaned again and buried her face in her arms. She could feel the heat rush up to her face and wasn't eager for anyone to see her blush. She faintly heard Trini speaking rapid Spanish, probably cursing him out. She was gonna kill Zackary Taylor one of these days.

They had a small fire going soon after. Kim was just a bit skeptical of not getting caught, but she supposed no one was actually looking up here for rogue teens. At least she hoped that was the case.

They roasted marshmallows and drank beer, an interesting but not unwelcome mix. Kim sighed and stared up at the sky. No matter how many nights she spent in the mountains looking at the stars, she never got tired of it.

Many campfire songs, a couple Never Have I Ever games, and one stick fight later, the excitement of the day caught up with them. They stomped out the fire, leaving only the moon and stars as their light. Kim and Trini changed into more comfortable clothes behind the tent, and Kim got distracted by the sight of Trini's bare back in the soft, pale glow.

Trini turned around and quirked an eyebrow, but Kimberly just quickly looked away and changed into her own shirt. She could feel Trini's questioning stare, and it made her stomach flutter with nerves.

They had a blowup mattress, something Kim was thankful for. The hard rocks they were on would not have been good for her back. The downside to not having sleeping bags though, was the possibility of moving closer to Trini during the night. She shifted to her side, facing away. She had shared a bed with Trini before, but it felt different this time. This revelation from the diner had made her overthink everything about her relationship with the girl. She shifted to her back again.

The possibility of them moving closer wasn't just a possibility. It would certainly happen. Trini, though she'd deny it if Kim told anyone and then proceed to kill Kim for saying anything, was a sleep cuddler. Every time she slept with Kimberly, they'd wake up with Trini clinging onto her like a koala. It was quite adorable, in Kim's opinion, but everything about this current situation screamed trouble.

She shifted around to her side again, this time towards Trini's back, trying to get comfortable. She was obviously having a hard time.

"You good?" Trini rolled over to face Kimberly. It was dark, but she could imagine the small frown Trini wore, and the little wrinkles between her eyebrows.

Kim let out a deep breath. "Yeah, just trying to get used to the bed."

Trini chuckled, and she sounded very close, dangerously close. "If you stopped moving around for a minute, maybe you'd get comfortable."

Kim scooted a bit backwards. "I'll try."

Trini was silent for a few long moments. "Okay."

Neither of them moved, and it seemed like forever before Kimberly could hear Trini's breath even out. She listened to the calming, rhythmic pattern, but her own mind wouldn't turn off.

She squeezed her eyes shut and repressed a groan. Tonight was going to be a long one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I'm not dead. Almost. I hope you guys like it, sorry for making you wait. Chapter title is "Yours4Sure" by We Are Leo.


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